OUTDOOR 
PHOTOGRAPHY 

BYJUUAN  A.D1MOCK 


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OUTDOOR 
PHOTOGRAPHY 


By 


JULIAN    A.    DIMOCK 


Photographs  by  the  Auth'  r 


HANDBOOKS 


NEW  YORK 

OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

MCMXII 


Copyright,  1912,  by 
OUTING  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


All  rights  reserved 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

PAGE 

Introduction  —  The 

Thing  Thai 

Really  Matters 

II 

I. 

The  Camera 

.         17 

II. 

Lens  and  Plates  . 

24 

III. 

Light  and  Exposure 

34 

IV. 

Development 

42 

V. 

Prints  and  Printing 

53 

VI. 

Composition 

67 

VII. 

Landscapes 

74 

VIII. 

Figure  Work 

83 

IX. 

Speed  Photography 

92 

X. 

Picturing  the  Leaping  Tarpon 

103 

XI. 

Sea   Pictures 

. 

112 

XII. 

In  the  Good  Old  Winter  Time 

116 

XIII. 

Wild  Life  . 

•                                     •                                     4 

124 

Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Researcii  Library,  Tine  Getty  Research  Institute 


http://www.archive.org/details/outdoorphotograpOOdimo 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Light  Had  Best  Come  from  a  Magnesium  Car- 
tridge in  the  Hunter's  Gun  ....    Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

In  Little  Italy  the  Push-Cart  Venders  Gossip  Between 
Sales i6 

Oil-clad    Fishers    Lustily    Hauling    Great    Baskets    of 
Frozen  Fish  from  the  Holds  of  Their  Vessels  .         .     32 

The  Photographer  May   Seek  to  Tell   Some   Story  of 
Their  Lives 36 

Silhouette  a  Figure  Against  a  Cloudy  Sky  and  Expose 
for  the   Sky 44 

The  Fisherman  I^Iust  Handle  the  Fish  for  the  Camera    48 

To  Impart  to  Them  Motives  Akin  to  Our  Own,  He 
Must   Enter   Into   Their   Lives     .        .        .        .        .64 

I  Want  My  Prints  to  Show  Wild  Creatures  in  Their 
Native   Habitat 68 

A  Film  Exposed  in  the  Frozen  North  Tells  a  Story 
of  Cold 76 

Accuracy  of  Timing  is  as  Important  as  Aim  or  Speed    80 

If  You   Want  the   Best   the   Country   Affords,    Go   to 
Canada  in  the  Winter  Time 96 

Underexposing  a  Plate  with  a  Ray  Filter      .        .        .  100 

Florida  in  the  Good  Old  Summer  Time  ....  108 


Outdoor  Photography 


INTRODUCTION 


THE  THING  THAT  REALLY  MATTERS 

The  thing  that  really  matters  is — you. 

THE  law  of  chance  doesn't  seem  to  work 
with  some  people.  I  know  a  promi- 
nent portrait  photographer  of  the  me- 
tropolis whose  superb  technical  work  I  have 
long  admired.  It  seems  impossible  that  he 
could  avoid  getting  a  certain  percentage  of  ar- 
tistic results.  Yet  year  after  year  I  have 
watched  his  show  window  and  never  have  I 
seen  a  single  suggestion  of  art  in  any  print 
exhibited. 

Not  very  far  from  his  exhibit  of  technique 
is  a  glass  frame,  which  often  contains  a  single 
print  taken  by  a  woman  who  is  steeped  in  art. 
Apparently,  she  never  takes  a  photograph  that 
is  not  a  picture;  at  least,  she  never  exhibits  such 
a  one.     The  former  has  every  accessory  known 

II 


12       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

to  the  profession;  the  latter,  a  simple  room, 
plainly  furnished.  The  one  never  rises  above 
superb  examples  of  merely  mechanical  photog- 
raphy. The  other,  with  her  camera,  never  falls 
below  works  of  art  that  make  instant  appeal 
to  the  eye. 

This  may  seem  immaterial,  but  I  assume  that 
your  desire  is  to  make  pictures,  to  have  your 
work  show  individuality  and  discriminating 
folk  glad  to  receive  gifts  of  it.  To  do  this,  you 
must  pick  up  crumbs  of  art  as  a  chicken  picks 
up  corn  and  grubs.  There  are  simple  laws  of 
composition  which  you  can  practice  all  day  and 
every  day.*  You  must  feel  the  spirit  of  the 
scene  on  which  you  look,  you  must  pick  out  the 
characteristics  and  plan  how  to  reproduce  them. 
And  all  this  you  can  best  do  as  you  go  about 
your  daily  life. 

Windows  make  the  best  of  frames  for  the 
study  of  composition.  They  inclose  the  scene  and 
you  can,  by  changing  your  position,  swing  a  tree 
from  the  left  to  the  right  side  of  the  picture. 
You  can  study  its  effect  in  the  center  of  the 
landscape,  in  the  upper  corner,  at  the  lower 
edge.  By  moving  your  head  a  few  inches  you 
can  cut  off  half  the  branches  and  have  the  trunk 
near  the  edge  of  the  frame.     You  can  find  the 

*See  chapter  on  Composition. 


INTRODUCTION  13 

vacant  places  and  think  how  best  they  may  be 
filled.  Would  a  figure  look  well  in  the  fore- 
ground? In  the  background?  In  the  middle 
distance?  What  proportion  of  sky  and  earth 
do  you  prefer?  Can  you  handle  best  one  tree, 
two  trees,  three  trees,  or  a  group?  Does  the 
scene  need  clouds  ?  Do  they  want  to  be  promi- 
nent so  as  to  absorb  the  interest,  or  retiring? 

Is  it  a  scene  in  the  small  mountain  country, 
mere  foot-hills  ?  Must  you  study  how  to  make 
them  look  shut-in,  cramped?  Or  is  it  a  view  in 
the  Rockies,  where  a  cliff  in  the  foreground  is 
a  mile  high?  Must  your  picture  tell  of  the  big 
scale  of  things ?  How  do  you  produce  the  effect? 
Perhaps  a  figure,  even  in  the  near  foreground, 
would  be  dwarfed,  lost.  The  scale  is  too  big, — 
yet  the  effect  must  be  produced.  That  is  a  prob- 
lem to  puzzle  you,  yet  it  must  be  solved  if  you 
are  to  make  the  scene  real.  Possibly  an  Indian 
is  stretching  out  his  arms  to  point  the  extent 
of  the  possessions  of  his  forefathers,  perhaps 
a  girl  of  your  own  party  will  show  the  awe  she 
feels  in  her  face,  in  her  attitude.  Perhaps, — 
oh,  perhaps  a  thousand  things,  and  that  is  the 
joy  of  the  problem. 

But  all  this  you  must  feel.  It  must  penetrate 
to  your  very  soul  before  you  can  portray  it. 

I  fear  that  begins  to  sound  like  the  mushy 


14       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

stuff  that  our  long-haired  friends  write  about 
psychical  moments.  They  have  the  right  idea, 
only  they  make  a  nauseating  mess  of  it.  It 
isn't  the  state  of  your  moral  welfare  that  has  to 
be  considered, — your  digestive  apparatus  has  a 
lot  more  to  do  with  it.  But  still,  it  is  very  true 
that  there  is  one  scrap  of  a  right  moment  and 
a  million  wrong  ones  for  making  an  exposure. 
And  because  you  then  have  so  many  things  to 
consider,  you  must  have  the  groundwork  so 
fixed  in  your  mind  that  a  minimum  of  attention 
is  paid  to  it.  The  fleeting  expression  of  the 
Indian,  the  changing  attitude  of  the  girl,  the 
scudding  cloud  that  silhouettes  his  erect  figure, 
the  sunlight  that  glorifies  her  head  as  with  a 
halo,  these  are  the  ephemeral  things  that  you 
must  be  able  to  recognize  and  to  catch  as  they 
appear.  But  alone  they  will  not  satisfy.  Your 
composition  must  be  right. 

You  must  have  looked,  while  you  were  un- 
packing your  outfit,  and  decided  just  where  to 
place  the  camera;  you  must  have  seen  just  how 
much  earth,  how  much  sky  to  give  the  view.  You 
must  have  seen  the  source  of  light,  and  come 
to  some  conclusion  concerning  its  use.  Will 
you  work  against  the  sun,  will  you  have  the 
flattening  effect  of  working  with  it  behind  you, 
or  will  you  shift  your  position  so  as  to  get  it 


INTRODUCTION  15 

at  the  side?  Does  the  scene  need  emphasis  on 
the  figure,  or  on  the  background,  or  the  clouds 
in  the  sky?  All  of  these  questions,  and  plenty 
besides,  you  must  have  asked  yourself  and  an- 
swered before  the  camera  is  set  up,  for  then 
will  come  the  fleeting  things  of  which  we  spoke 
first. 

Do  you  want  to  picture  Fifth  Avenue?  What 
do  you  consider  first?  What  strikes  you  when 
you  walk  there?  Is  it  the  magnificent  build- 
ings, the  stores  that  are  so  sure  of  themselves 
that  they  do  not  have  the  firm  name  on  the 
building,  the  homes  of  the  plutocrats,  the 
stream  of  vehicles,  the  gowns  of  the  women,  or 
the  sad  faces  of  the  people  with  nothing  to  do 
but  hunt  for  amusement?  What  is  it  that  im- 
presses you?  Decide  that  question  before  you 
try  to  represent  Fifth  Avenue  with  your  camera. 
Make  the  lens  look  with  your  eyes,  make  the 
plates  tell  the  story  that  your  lips  would  tell. 

Do  you  want  to  give  your  friends  a  glimpse 
of  Hester  Street?  Have  you  been  there  your- 
self in  winter  time,  lightly  clad  and  shivering,  to 
understand  the  blue  faces  of  the  hurrying  men, 
women,  and  children?  Have  you  been  there 
in  the  summer  time,  when  the  heat-soaked 
pavements  scorched  your  face?  Have  you 
wanted  to  be  alone  when  you  wandered  through 


1 6       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

its  streaming  masses  of  humanity  and  thought 
what  it  must  be  to  live  always  so  huddled  to- 
gether? Before  you  can  bring  back  to  your 
friends  pictures  that  show  the  throbbing  heart 
of  Hester  Street  you  must  have  entered  into 
its  life. 

These  are  the  things  that  count,  the  elements 
that  will  redeem  your  work  from  the  scrap 
heap.  And  you  must  develop  them  hour  by 
hour. 


Chapter  I 
THE  CAMERA 

THE  pros  and  cons  of  camera  selection 
are  limitless,  and  the  arguments  so 
nearly  balanced  that  first  I  shall  simply 
state  my  own  choice.  For  ten  years  I  have 
used  a  6^x8^  Reflex  camera  for  eighty-five 
per  cent  of  my  work  and  for  the  other  fifteen 
per  cent  an  ordinary  tripod  view  camera  of 
the  folding  type, — so  ordinary  that  it  has  not 
even  the  maker's  name.  The  same  lens  and 
plate-holders  fit  both  these  instruments.  In 
this  selection  of  tools,  one  object  has  been 
sought, — the  best  practicable  results  from  work 
done  under  unknown  and  widely  differing  con- 
ditions. These  cameras  have  been  used  in  the 
southern  wilderness,  under  the  tropical  summer 
sun,  and  in  the  Canadian  woods  while  the  mer- 
cury was  nearly  freezing  in  the  bulb.  They 
have  been  used  for  flashlighting  the  interiors  of 
northern  logging  camps  and  for  flashlights  of 

17 


i8       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

a  moonshiners'  retreat  in  the  Big  Cypress 
Swamp;  for  indoor  portraiture  in  the  metropo- 
lis, and  broncho  busting  in  the  west.  And,  af- 
ter this  decade  of  experience,  I  have  no  desire 
to  change  either. 

For  the  sake  of  convenience,  I  shall  divide 
cameras  into  three  classes :  The  tripod  or  stand 
variety,  the  reflecting  camera,  and  the  small, 
film-using  hand  instrument.  These  classes 
overlap,  but  are,  in  the  main,  distinctive.  The 
percentage  of  good  photographs  obtained  is 
likely  to  be  in  inverse  ratio  to  the  ease  of 
manipulation.  Hence  this  is  a  factor  to  bear 
in  mind  in  your  choice  of  an  instrument. 

The  matter  of  size  is  applicable  alike  to  all 
three  classes.  Some  writers  commend  the  small 
plate  as  making  an  exposure  less  expensive.  To 
my  mind,  this  is  an  objectionable  feature.  If 
the  loss  of  a  plate  is  of  no  moment,  you  will 
use  them  promiscuously  and  will  never  learn  to 
do  better  work.  Think  first  and  expose  the 
plate  afterwards.  If  additional  cost  will  help 
you  to  be  thoughtful,  pile  on  the  expense, — it 
will  prove  a  stepping  stone  to  better  things.  If 
you  are  willing  to  make  enlargements  from 
every  successful  exposure,  the  small  sizes  will 
do,  but  if,  from  the  negatives,  you  wish  to  make 
direct  prints  to  decorate  the  walls  of  the  den 


THE    CAMERA  19 

or  to  give  away  to  friends,  you  must  use  at 
least  the  5x7  or  6>^  x  8>4.  I  should  put  the 
case  this  way:  For  the  fun  of  pressing  the  but- 
ton, get  a  3  >4  X  4^  or  4  X  5  ;  for  the  pleasure 
of  getting  good  results,  try  a  5x7  or  a  6>^ 
x8><. 

TRIPOD  CAMERA.— For  portraiture  and 
carefully  composed  landscapes,  the  tripod  is 
essential.  A  camera  cannot  be  held  steadily 
enough  in  the  hand  for  an  exposure  of  more 
than  one-tenth  of  a  second,  hence  for  every  pic- 
ture requiring  more  time  than  this  a  secure  sup- 
port is  necessar}'.  Indoor  work  and  objects  in 
deep  shade  out  of  doors,  as  well  as  scenes  where 
depth  of  focus  (or  stopping  down  of  the  lens) 
is  required,  must  have  more  time  than  this. 
For  photographing  the  carefully  selected  land- 
scape, the  instrument  must  be  held  in  a  fixed 
position  while  the  image  is  studied  on  tlie 
ground  glass,  and  for  this  the  stand  outfit  is 
necessary.  The  tree  or  the  house  must  occupy 
a  particular  spot  on  the  plate,  the  sky  and  earth 
must  be  accurately  proportioned,  the  swing 
back  should  be  used  to  secure  sharpness  in 
the  foreground.  These  things  cannot  all  be 
watched  at  once;  thus,  regardless  of  the  length 
of  exposure,  the  tripod  camera  must  be  used. 

In  selecting  such  an  instrument,   the  points 


20       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

to  examine  are  length  of  bellows,  rising  and 
falling  front,  double  swing  back,  reversible 
back,  and  rack  and  pinion  focusing  movement. 
A  fuller  explanation  of  the  uses  of  these  de- 
vices may  be  found  in  the  chapter  on  land- 
scapes. 

HAND  CAMERA. — For  convenience  in  use 
the  small,  compact,  roll-film  hand  camera  is  in 
a  class  by  itself.  "You  press  the  button  and 
the  6ther  fellow  does  the  rest,"  is  the  acme  of 
simplicity  and  possesses  but  three  flaws — "you," 
the  "other  fellow"  and  the  limitations  of  the 
small  camera.  You  cannot  see  the  image  on 
the  ground  glass  and  are  therefore  unable  to 
judge  how  it  looks  there;*  you  do  not  take 
time  to  consider  the  arrangement  of  the  scene, 
the  different  angles  of  view  or  the  proper  ex- 
posure. "The  other  fellow"  is  developing  film 
by  the  mile,  nearly  every  inch  of  which  has 
been  exposed  without  thought  or  study,  and  he 
does  not  care  one  little  bit  how  it  turns  out. 
The  kodak  type  is  undeniably  portable,  always 
ready  for  use,  unobtrusive,  and  it  may  be 
quickly  reloaded  in  daylight,  while  any  number 
of  extra  films  may  be  easily  carried.  In  ex- 
pert hands,  it  is  capable  of  doing  good  work, 

*The  ground  glass  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  finder. 
The  former  is  the  full  size  of  the  plate  or  film  and  receives  the 
image  exactly  as  it  will  reach  the  plate.  The  latter  is  merely  a 
sort  of  sight. 


THE    CAMERA  21 

but  it  needs  all  of  the  knowledge  of  the  ex- 
perienced photographer  to  make  it  turn  out 
work  of  uniform   excellence. 

REFLECTING  CAMERA.— The  reflect- 
ing  camera  contains  a  mirror  which  throws  the 
image  from  the  lens  upon  a  full-sized  ground 
glass  in  the  top  of  the  box.  On  this  glass  the 
scene  before  the  camera  may  be  watched  to  the 
very  instant  of  taking  the  photograph,  and  a 
very  fair  idea  obtained  of  the  way  it  should 
look  in  the  print.  This  permits  of  accurate 
focusing,  proper  placing  of  the  view  on  the 
plate,  and  tells  the  operator  the  comparative 
size  of  the  figures  in  the  foreground  and  of 
the  objects  in  the  middle  distance  and  back- 
ground. 

To  expose  a  plate,  a  knob  at  the  front  of  the 
box  is  pressed  down  by  the  thumb  of  one  hand. 
This  first  throws  the  mirror  up  against  the 
ground  glass,  out  of  range  of  the  rays  of  light 
from  the  lens,  and  then  releases  the  curtain  of 
the  focal  plane  shutter,*  exposing  the  sensitive 
plate.  This  instrument  combines  the  advan- 
tages of  permitting  careful  study  of  the  image 
on  the  ground  glass  with  the  instant  readiness 
of  the  hand  camera.  It  is  so  quick  of  adjust- 
ment that,  having  heard  a  fish  leap  behind  me,  I 

*For  a  description  of  focal  plane-shutter  see  chapter  on  speed 
work. 


22       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

have  swung  completely  around  and  caught  a 
photograph  of  the  creature  before  It  had  re- 
turned to  the  water.  It  is  the  best  all-around 
camera  on  the  market  to-day  for  serious  out- 
door photography.  Its  operation  is  described 
at  some  length  in  the  chapter  on  speed  work. 
But  it  has  three  radical  disadvantages:  weight, 
size  and  cost. 

If  you  wish  to  get  the  best  photographs  that 
your  capabilities  will  allow,  I  advise  the  use 
of  a  6  V2  X  83^  tripod  camera  with  glass  plates. 
There  are  two  safeguards  with  this  outfit.  It 
takes  so  long  to  get  the  instrument  ready  for 
action  that  you  have  plenty  of  time  to  study 
the  subject  and  surroundings.  The  plates  are 
so  heavy  that  you  can  carry  but  few,  and  thus 
must  give  each  one  the  best  possible  chance. 
The  proportions  of  the  print  are  agreeable  and 
of  sufficient  size  to  use  without  enlargement. 

If  you  wish  to  do  speed  work  or  to  take 
subjects  that  require  a  hand  instrument,  I 
recommend  a  reflecting  camera  of  the  same 
size,  using  plates,  and, — if  you  have  the  two, — 
with  interchangeable  holders  and  lens.  The 
safeguards  are  the  same  as  with  the  tripod 
camera,  while  the  results  are  so  sure  to  be  uni- 
formly better  than  those  possible  with  a  small 
instrument  that  the  extra  bother  is  forgotten. 


THE    CAMERA  23 

If  you  want  the  fun  of  the  thing  without  the 
work,  and  do  not  take  the  matter  seriously,  the 
easiest  instrument  to  use  is  the  small,  roll-film 
camera. 

As  to  the  particular  make,  I  should  leave 
that  to  the  dealers.  Go  to  a  responsible  house, 
tell  them  what  you  want  to  do  with  your  cam- 
era, and  accept  their  advice. 


Chapter  II 
LENS  AND  PLATES 

THE  central  feature  of  the  camera  is  the 
lens.  It  pictures  the  view  and  trans- 
fers it  to  the  sensitive  plate.  Its  adap- 
tation to  the  work  required  is  of  vital  impor- 
tance to  the  photographer,  whether  amateur  or 
professional.  In  complication,  the  lens  ranges 
from  a  pinhole  in  a  piece  of  black  paper  to  an 
anastigmat,  consisting  of  a  scientific  combina- 
tion of  numerous  simpler  lenses,  made  from  the 
wonderful  Jena  glass,  and  its  cost  varies  from 
nothing  to  hundreds  of  dollars. 

The  lens  is  subject  to  as  many  diseases  as 
the  human  eye;  astigmatism,  color  blindness, 
false  focusing  and  general  distortion.  When 
your  eyes  disturb  you,  you  don't  study  up  their 
physiology  and  the  laws  of  optics,  but  you  get 
your  oculist  to  prescribe,  and  perhaps  cause  to 
be  ground,  the  glasses  you  require  for  special 
work.   Makers  of  cameras  put  specialists  on  the 

24 


LENS    AND    PLATES  25 

job  of  selecting  lenses  to  fit  their  own  output. 
Famous  manufacturers  of  lenses  spend  fortunes 
in  correcting  defects,  overcoming  natural  ob- 
stacles and  adapting  their  product  to  every  re- 
quirement of  camera  and  plate-maker,  as  well 
as  the  demands  of  photographers  from  the 
astronomer  to  the  motion  picture  man. 

VALUE  OF  F. — There  are  a  few  elemen- 
tary features  in  the  working  of  a  lens  that  the 
amateur  must  understand  if  he  expects  ever 
to  get  beyond  pushing  the  button  and  letting 
the  dealer  do  the  rest.  First,  he  must  get  the 
F  values  of  his  lens  in  his  head  if  it  takes  a 
surgical  operation  to  accomplish  it.  This  F 
expresses  the  relation  of  the  focal  length  of  the 
lens  to  the  aperture  which  admits  the  light 
through  it.  Thus  a  wide-open  lens,  one  inch 
in  diameter,  having  a  focal  length  of  eight 
inches,  would  be  represented  by  F8.  So,  too, 
would  a  lens  two  inches  in  diameter,  with  a 
focal  length  of  16  inches,  be  represented  by  F8. 
In  these,  as  in  all  other  instances,  F8  represents 
a  fixed,  definite  proportion  of  light  on  every 
square  inch  of  ground  glass  of  plate.  Thus, 
when  you  have  learned  the  proper  exposure  of 
plates  with  one  lens  of  F8,  you  are  primed  for 
all  other  lenses  of  the  same  F  value.  The  focal 
length  of  a  lens  is  the  distance  between  it  and 


26      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

the  ground  glass  when  it  is  focused  on  the  ho- 
rizon. For  nearby  objects  it  is  necessary  to 
increase  this  distance  by  extending  the  bellows 
of  the  camera.  This  increases  the  F  number 
of  the  combination,  but  this  fact  is  usually  ig- 
nored in  practice. 

For  the  character  and  quality  of  lens,  the 
amateur  will  save  time  and  much  confusion  of 
ideas  by  considering  the  reputation  of  the 
maker  and  giving  weight  to  the  advice  of  a 
dealer  in  whose  intelligence  and  integrity  he 
has  confidence.  There  are  many  lenses  of  high 
repute  from  which  you  can  make  your  selection. 
It  is  a  delight  to  own  one  that  is  fast;  and  a 
good  one  that  works  at  F4.5  is  a  joy  forever. 
A  desirable  focus  is  about  twice  the  short  side 
of  the  plate  used,  thus  12  inches  for  a  6^ 
x8^  plate  or  8  inches  for  a  4x5.  Having 
found  a  satisfactory  lens,  stick  to  it,  excepting 
where  special  work  demands  a  change.  Exper- 
imenting with  lenses  is  profitless  work,  espe- 
cially for  the  amateur. 

TELEPHOTO  LENS.— In  photographing 
distant  objects  a  telephoto  is  often  a  conve- 
nience. This  lens,  as  its  name  indicates,  is  a 
combination  of  long  focus  lenses,  and  its  pur- 
pose is  to  give  the  camera  telescopic  vision  with- 
out corresponding  and  cumbersome  extension 


LENS    AND    PLATES  27 

of  bellows.  Unfortunately,  the  combination 
results  in  a  diffused  definition  making  sharpness 
impossible,  while  the  multiplication  of  the  F 
value  so  increases  the  time  of  exposure  as  prac- 
tically to  limit  the  use  of  this  lens  to  tripod 
work. 

It  might  be  hastily  inferred  that  the  time  of 
exposure  should  vary  directly  with  the  F  num- 
bers. But  these  numbers  vary  directly  with 
diameters  and  focal  lengths,  while  the  light 
admitted  through  a  circular  opening  varies  with 
the  square  of  its  diameter;  and  a  similar  law 
controls  in  respect  to  focal  length.  Therefore, 
the  time  of  exposure  should  be  proportioned  to 
the  square  of  the  F  number.  Thus,  if  a  lens 
at  F8  called  for  an  exposure  of  one  second,  a 
lens  at  F16  would  require  four  seconds,  that 
being  the  relation  between  the  square  of  eight 
(64),  and  the  square  of  sixteen  (256),  and  a 
lens  at  F32  would  need  an  exposure  of  16  sec- 
onds. To  make  clear  the  reason  for  this  would 
require  two  diagrams  and  two  hundred  words 
that  no  one  would  read,  so  this,  too,  must  be 
taken  on  faith.  In  this  writing,  F8  has  been 
taken  as  the  unit  for  comparison  with  the 
higher  F  numbers.  Of  course,  it  works  simi- 
larly with  the  lower  numbers.  Thus,  a  lens  at 
F4.5  would  compare  in  speed  with  one  at  F8 


28       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

inversely  as  their  squares,  and  the  time  of  ex- 
posure with  the  former  would  be  one-third  of 
that  required  by  the  latter. 

STOPS. — All  lenses  are  provided  with  stops 
for  reducing  the  lens  aperture  as  conditions 
indicate.  As  each  stop,  in  proportion  to  its 
opening,  changes  the  time  of  exposure  required 
its  F  value  is  usually  stamped  upon  it,  which  is 
a  mighty  comfort  to  the  non-mathematical 
amateur. 

DEPTH  OF  FOCUS.— The  parallel  rays 
from  the  horizon  that  fall  upon  the  lens  from 
its  center  to  its  circumference  are  so  bent  by 
it  that  all  converge  at  a  point  distant  from  the 
lens  its  own  focal  length.  Rays  from  an  ob- 
ject near  the  lens  being  refracted  at  the  same 
angle  meet  in  focus  at  a  greater  distance  from 
the  lens,  hence,  for  such  objects  the  bellows  of 
the  camera  must  be  extended.  Rays  passing 
through  the  exact  center  of  the  lens  are  not 
refracted  in  the  least  and  their  focus  is  uni- 
versal, giving  sharpness  of  detail,  whatever  the 
distance  of  the  subject  from  the  camera.  But 
rays  passing  through  the  periphery  of  the  lens 
converge  at  an  angle  so  acute  that  they  possess 
substantially  no  depth  of  focus,  and  sharpness 
is  confined  to  a  well-defined  plane.  Objects  be- 
fore or  behind  this  plane  are  blurred  in  propor- 


LENS    AND    PLATES  29 

tion  to  their  distance  from  it.  The  wide-open 
lens  has  the  greatest  illumination,  calling  for 
the  least  exposure,  but  has  little  depth  of  focus. 
If  the  lens  is  stopped  down  to  a  tiny  opening, 
sharpness  is  universal,  but  the  illumination  is 
so  poor  that  the  time  of  exposure  Is  be- 
yond practicable  limits.  Distinctness  of  detail 
demands  a  small  stop  at  the  expense  of  illumi- 
nation and  short  exposure,  while  fast  work 
requires  a  large  lens  opening  at  the  cost  of 
sharpness  in  the  picture.  The  photographer 
must  compromise  these  opposing  claims  accord- 
ing to  the  circumstances  and  his  own  judgment. 
Often  the  amateur  estimates  his  success  by  the 
sharpness  of  his  work,  while  frequently  the 
measure  of  its  merit  is  the  diffusion  of  focus 
represented.  There  is  a  wide  range  between 
the  sharp  outlines  of  a  steel  engraving  and 
the  blurred  effect  of  an  impressionist's  work; 
but  while  the  former  might  best  present  archi- 
tectural effects,  or  represent  a  political  con- 
vention, where  each  delegate  desired  to  have 
his  visage  preserved  for  posterity,  yet  the 
chance  of  getting  a  picture  lies  nearer  the 
diffused  focus  of  the  latter. 

The  human  eye  works  at  a  low  F  number, 
and  has  little  depth  of  focus,  although  this  is 
compensated  for  by  Its  rapid  change  of  focus. 


30      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

Thus,  the  photograph  that  presents  the  picture 
most  naturally  to  the  eye  shows  some  promi- 
nent feature  in  good  definition  and  objects  be- 
fore and  behind  it  melting  into  comparative 
haziness.  It  combines  a  pleasing  perspective 
with  the  artistic  quality  called  atmosphere. 

RAY  FILTER.— Although  fitted  to  the 
lens,  the  ray  filter  is  really  an  adjunct  to  the 
plate,  for  it  corrects  the  shortcomings  of  the 
sensitive  emulsion.  It  gives  color  value  to  the 
finished  negative  by  repressing  the  activity  of 
the  too  actinic  blue  ray,  and  stimulating  the 
brilliant  but  sluggish  yellow.  From  amateur 
to  artist  Is  a  long  road,  with  many  brambles, 
but  it  seems  a  primrose  path  to  the  photo- 
graphic art  student  when  first  he  experiments 
with  orthochromatic  plates  and  ray  filters. 
Even  the  amateur  who  has  lamented  that  he 
cannot  reproduce  the  brilliant  effects  of  clouds 
that  he  can  see  soon  wonders  at  the  results, 
more  gorgeous  than  anything  he  has  witnessed 
In  the  heavens,  from  clouds  that  are  almost 
Invisible  to  the  eye. 

CONTRAST  PLATES.— Plate-makers  are 
many,  and  their  products  of  high  average,  with 
the  evil  and  the  good  in  their  nature  well  bal- 
anced. Thus,  from  one  maker  comes  a  plate 
firm  In  film  and  rich  In  result,  defying  the  heat 


LENS   AND    PLATES  31 

of  the  tropics,  and  responding  to  all  developers, 
regardless  of  warmth  of  solutions.  It  is  the 
delight  of  the  neophyte,  for  the  tough  film 
resists  rough  handling,  and  the  black  and  white 
of  the  negative  stand  out  like  the  lettering  on 
a  street  corner,  while  each  feature  of  the  fin- 
ished print  jumps  at  you  like  the  paint  on  the 
cheek  of  an  Indian.  For  black  and  white 
work,  where  strength  Is  required,  these  plates 
are  ideal;  but  the  artist  who  tries  one,  seeking 
delicate  lights  and  shades,  Is  likely  to  have 
a  fit. 

HIGH-SPEED  PLATES.— At  the  other 
extreme  Is  the  highly  sensitized,  soft  emulsion, 
that  takes  your  finger  prints  If  you  dare  touch 
It  In  un-Iced  water  In  a  warm  country.  But 
give  It  work  worthy  of  its  caste,  expose  It  one 
six-hundredth  of  a  second  behind  a  lens  work- 
ing at  F6.3  to  the  rays  reflected  from  a  leap- 
ing silver  king,  from  flashing  drops  and  sun- 
kissed  waters,  backed  by  the  brilliant  blue  of 
the  heavens.  Look  at  the  plate  charily  as  you 
develop  It,  and  watch  the  film  swell  high  with 
pride,  leaving  in  deep  Intaglio  the  higher  lights. 
Study  the  finished  negative,  showing  each  scale 
as  if  traced  by  the  graver's  tool,  each  flying 
drop  distinct  as  a  diamond,  and  the  fixed  wide- 
open  gills,   the  play  of  which  no  human  eye 


32       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

could  have  followed.  To  one  accustomed  to 
slow  plate  methods  and  results  there  might 
seem  to  be  a  lack  of  density  and  the  possibili- 
ties of  a  flat  print,  but  from  the  trial  test  the 
plate  comes  out  triumphant,  with  the  print 
showing  every  delicate  detail,  and  the  bronzing 
shadows  promise  perfect  tone  and  finish. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  exploit  certain  makes 
or  makers  of  lenses  or  plates.  Doubtless  there 
are  other  lenses  and  plates  quite  as  good  as 
those  I  use,  but  as  this  book  is  illustrated  by 
my  photographs,  it  seems  proper  to  inform 
readers  what  machinery  was  employed. 

The  Voightlander  Collinear  Series  II,  No.  6, 
was  used  exclusively.  It  will  do  better  work 
than  I  know  how  to  ask  of  it,  and  until  my 
knowledge  catches  up  with  its  capabilities  I 
shall  continue  to  use  my  old  acquaintance. 

For  plates,  I  stick  to  the  double-coated  Iso- 
chromatic  Medium  and  Crown  brands  of  Cra- 
mer make.  Whenever  speed  is  not  the  first 
essential,  I  use  the  Isochromatic,  and,  if  con- 
ditions permit,  an  Ideal  ray  filter  with  it. 

FILMS. — Films  are  more  costly  than  plates, 
and  have  less  speed  than  the  fastest.  They 
are  less  convenient  to  handle  in  the  dark-room, 
and  are  more  liable  to  develop  defects.  It  is 
uncanny  how  a  spoiled  spot  in  a  film  will  an- 


LENS    AND    PLATES  33 

ticlpate  the  vital  point  in  a  view  to  be  taken, 
and  locate  in  that  exact  place  a  month  in  ad- 
vance. But  films  are  extraordinarily  conveni- 
ent in  the  field  because  of  their  lightness  and 
portability. 

A  fresh  spool  of  unexposed  film  may  be  sub- 
stituted in  full  daylight  for  one  that  has  been 
exposed,  and  any  number  of  them  may  be 
carried  in  the  pocket.  Yet  I  have  packed  hun- 
dreds of  pounds  of  plates  on  broncos  when 
streams  were  to  be  forded  or  swum,  and  moun- 
tains climbed,  and  carried  them  in  canoes  where 
portages  were  many,  and  on  sledges,  where 
mercury  freezes.  I  have  changed  plates  in  a 
mangrove  swamp,  with  tent  and  blankets  piled 
over  me  to  shut  out  light  and  air,  while  they 
kept  in  mosquitoes  and  deadly  heat.  Yet  I 
would  do  it  all  over  again  rather  than  ever 
carry  another  film.  The  consensus  of  opinion 
is  against  me.  Films  have  come  to  stay,  and 
who  am  I  that  I  should  kick  against  the  pricks  ? 


Chapter  III 
LIGHT  AND  EXPOSURE 

LIGHT  does  the  work  on  the  sensitive  plate, 
and  requires  a  definite  time  to  accom- 
plish it,  but  if  given  too  much  it  spoils 
the  picture  it  has  made. 

The  time  of  exposure  is  the  biggest  prob- 
lem presented  to  the  photographer.  For  the 
kodak  amateur  it  is  solved  mechanically,  usually 
within  a  thousand  per  cent  of  accuracy;  but 
the  student  who  means  to  make  pictures  ought 
to  hit  the  correct  time  within  a  hundred  per 
cent.  And  really,  that  would  be  fair  for  an 
expert. 

I  once  officiated  at  the  post-mortem  of  a  lot 
of  plates  which  a  relative  had  exposed  in  Ber- 
muda. He  had  given  four  seconds'  exposure, 
with  a  wide-open  lens,  under  circumstances  that 
called  for  the  three-thousandth  part  of  that 
time.  The  condition  of  the  plates  reminded  me 
of  a  box  of  negatives  that  I  sent  from  Florida 

34 


LIGHT   AND    EXPOSURE         35 

to  my  home,  with  the  injunction  to  put  them 
in  a  cool,  dry  place,  that  the  plates  might  not 
spoil.  At  the  same  time  I  shipped,  without 
comment,  another  box  containing  the  hide  of  a 
crocodile  intended  for  mounting.  Later  I  re- 
ceived word  from  home  that  the  boxes  had 
arrived,  but  that  the  plates  must  have  spoiled 
already,  for  they  smelt  awfully. 

LENGTH  OF  EXPOSURE.— So  many 
varying  factors  affect  the  time  of  exposure  that 
it  requires  six  tables  to  present  them  in  avail- 
able form.  Between  a  cloudless  sky  and  one 
heavily  overcast,  the  times  of  exposure  required 
are  as  one  to  four.  Noon  of  June  compares 
similarly  with  3  P.M.  of  December.  An  out- 
door portrait  demands  an  exposure  sixteen 
times  greater  than  a  picture  of  sky  and  clouds, 
the  depth  of  a  forest  or  a  dark  ravine  fifty 
times  greater,  and  an  Interior  view  from  one 
thousand  to  ten  thousand  times  longer  expo- 
sure. The  fast  plates  most  used  by  the  ama- 
teur compare  in  sensitiveness  as  one  to  two, 
and  the  F  value  of  lenses  within  the  ordinary 
work,  from  F8  to  F32,  call  for  exposures 
differing  as  from  one  to  sixteen. 

Under  the  most  favorable  conditions  named, 
bright  sunlight  (as  midday  in  summer),  with 
plouds  for  a  subj.ect,  the  most  sensitive  of  plates 


36       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

and  a  wide-open  lens,  the  exposure  required 
would  be  about  1/800  second.  Compare  this 
with  the  less  favorable,  but  not  unusual,  con- 
ditions of  photographing  a  friend  on  a  cloudy 
November  afternoon,  with  a  lens  stopped  down 
to  F32,  and  an  ordinary  fast  plate.  The 
time  of  exposure  must  be  multiplied  by  4  for 
the  clouds  (Table  I),  by  4  for  the  season  of 
the  year  and  hour  of  the  day  (Table  II),  by 
16  for  the  subject  (Table  III),  by  16  for  the 
stop  (Table  IV) ,  and  by  2  for  the  plate  (Table 
V).  The  result  is  8192,  with  which  to  multiply 
1/800  second,  giving  10  seconds  as  the  time 
of  exposure. 

Suppose  you  are  picturing  an  open  lawn, 
with  a  group  of  children  in  the  middle  distance, 
at  4  P.M.,  on  a  clear  summer  day,  with  the  lens 
at  Fi  I.  Multiply  time  of  exposure  by  8  for  an 
average  landscape  (Table  III),  by  2  for  the 
hour  (Table  II) ,  by  2  for  the  stop  (Table  IV) , 
and  set  the  shutter  of  your  camera  to  give  1/25 
second  exposure.  If  the  children  begin  to  play 
tag  before  you  have  exposed  the  plate,  you  will 
take  out  the  stop,  leaving  the  lens  wide  open,  or 
at  F8,  which  will  reduce  the  time  required  to 
1/50  second.  But  when  children  play  tag  it  re- 
quires a  speed  of  i/ioo  second  to  catch  them 
(Table  VI),  so  you  set  your  shutter  at  that 


^ 


LIGHT   AND    EXPOSURE         37 

figure,  trusting  to  the  developer  to  make  good 
with  the  picture,  for  a  hundred  per  cent  latitude 
in  exposure  is  only  a  reasonable  allowance. 

ACTINIC  VALUE.— The  eye  is  incapable 
of  judging,  within  a  reasonable  percentage  of 
the  truth,  the  actinic  value  of  light.  The  yel- 
low ray  which  seems  bright  to  the  retina  affects 
the  sensitive  plate  but  slightly,  while  photo- 
graphs can  be  taken  by  the  dark  actinic  rays 
that  lie  beyond  the  violet  in  the  spectrum.  A 
better  measure  of  the  actinic  value  of  light  than 
the  tables  can  give  is  to  be  found  in  the— - 

ACTINOMETER.— In  this  instrument  a 
strip  of  sensitive  paper  is  darkened  to  match 
a  given  shade,  and  the  time  noted.  In  the  sun- 
light of  midday  in  June  this  requires  about  two 
seconds.  The  relation  between  these  two  peri- 
ods of  time  establishes  the  character  and  quan- 
tity of  light,  eliminating  the  uncertainties  of 
Tables  I  and  II,  leaving  only  Tables  III,  IV 
and  V  to  be  considered;  and  of  these,  only 
Table  III,  relating. to  the  object  to  be  photo- 
graphed, calls  for  more  than  a  moment's 
thought,  while  some  actinometers  are  arranged 
to  perform  automatically  the  mathematical 
stunts. 

TABLES. — Exposure  tables  are  published 
giving  much  more  detailed  information  than 


38       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

those  appended,  but  when  two  out  of  five  fac- 
tors cai]  only  be  guessed  at  It  seems  hardly 
worth  while  to  push  minutia  to  a  confusing 
extent  in  analyzing  combinations.  I  have  given 
as  many  details  in  the  tables  as  I  think  will  be 
read,  and  more  than  I  ever  used  myself,  and 
have  written  in  round  numbers,  seeking  only  to 
approximate  results  as  nearly  as  seems  sensible. 
There  are  lesser  factors  than  those  treated  of, 
which  complicate  results,  but  to  tabulate  their 
importance  would  confuse  the  amateur  as  much 
as  it  would  muddle  me. 


TABLE  I 

LIGHT — RELATIVE   TIME   OF    EXPOSURE 

Intense  sunlight i  second 

Faint  shadows 2  seconds 

Dull 3  seconds 

Very  dull 4  seconds 

TABLE  II 

SEASON  OF  THE  YEAR  AND  HOUR  OF  THE  DAY 

Midsummer  at  noon I  second 

Midsummer  at  8  a.m.  or  4  p.m 2  seconds 

Midwinter  at  noon 2  seconds 

Midwinter  at  9  a.m.  or  3  p.m 4  seconds 


LIGHT   AND    EXPOSURE         39 

TABLE  III 

SUBJECT 

Sky  and  clouds I  second 

Sea  and  snow  scenes 2  seconds 

Landscapes,  open 4  seconds 

Landscapes,  average 8  seconds 

Portraits,  near 16  seconds 

Ravines  or  dense  woods 50  seconds 


The  use  of  this  table  calls  for  good  judg- 
ment, which  practice  and  careful  study  will 
rapidly  develop.  Extreme  conditions  have  not 
been  considered  in  the  table.  For  example,  in 
the  clear  air  of  a  snow-capped  mountain,  with 
its  dazzling  sunlight  and  brilliant  reflections, 
or  on  the  white  sand  of  a  wave-washed  beach, 
beneath  a  tropical  sun,  the  shortest  of  the  expo- 
sures of  the  table  might  have  to  be  divided 
by  two  or  more,  while  what  seemed  an  ordinary 
interior  view  might  require  that  it  be  multiplied 
by  from  1,000  to  10,000. 

The  greater  the  distance  from  the  camera  of 
the  object  to  be  photographed,  the  shorter  is 
the  time  of  exposure  required.  When  the  sub- 
ject is  very  near  the  camera,  the  Increase  of 
exposure  required  becomes  important. 

POSITION  OF  SUN.— The  position  of  the 
sun,  relative  to  the  camera,  may  seriously  mod- 
ify the  required  time  of  exposure.     If  its  light 


40      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

comes  from  behind  the  camera,  the  time  of 
exposure  must  be  cut  down,  often  by  as  much 
as  one-half.  This  is  partly  because  of  the  full 
illumination  of  a  scene  so  pictured,  and  partly 
because  the  resulting  flatness  of  such  illumina- 
tion can  only  be  redeemed  by  an  underexposure, 
which,  through  the  contrast  occurring  in  devel- 
opment, gives  life  to  the  negative.  If  the  sun- 
light comes  from  one  side,  unless  the  shadows 
are  very  deep  the  exposure  should  be  normal. 
If,  however,  the  camera  is  pointed  at  the  sun, 
the  illumination  is  so  poor,  and  the  contrasts  so 
great,  that  often  the  time  of  exposure  should 
be  doubled,  or  even  quadrupled. 

TABLE  IV 

STOPS 

F8 1  second 

Fl  1 2  seconds 

Fi6 4  seconds 

F22 8  seconds 

F32 16  seconds 

TABLE  V 

PLATES 

Fastest  plates  of  standard  make I  second 

Fast  plates,  orthochromatic,  etc 2  seconds 

Comparative  speed  of  slower  plates  made  for 
special  work  may  be  obtained  from  makers, 
catalogues,  or  exposure  leaflets. 


LIGHT   AND    EXPOSURE 


41 


Objects  In  motion  call  for  a  table  giving 
approximate  speed  required  for  satisfactory 
sharpness.  The  figures -given  are  based  on  an 
attempt  to  average  conditions  which  may  vary 
widely.  Lenses  may  change  them  as  4  to  i, 
and  distance  affect  them  yet  more  radically. 
This  subject  is  treated  again  in  Chapter  IX, 
under  speed  photography. 


TABLE  VI 

OBJECTS  IN  MOTION 

Animals  grazing,  Street  scenes 1/50    second 

Children  and  animals  at  play i/ioo  second 

Hurdling,  motor  boat,  running  horse 1/300  second 

Flying  birds,  leaping  fish,  automobiles 1/600  second 

No  lens  has  been  made,  and  no  conditions 
exist,  that  would  give  full  exposures  at  these 
speeds.  Yet  the  high  speed  is  of  such  vital 
importance  that  it  is  better  to  maintain  it,  and 
leave  to  development  the  task  of  bringing  the 
most  possible  out  of  the  underexposed  plate. 


Chapter   IV 
DEVELOPMENT 

WHEN  Daguerre  first  captured  a  sun- 
painted  picture,  by  subjecting  an  ex- 
posed plate  to  the  vapor  of  mercury, 
it  was  doubtless  accounted  a  bit  of  black  art 
in  which  the  winged  god  figured.  From  that 
day  to  this,  development  of  photographic  plates 
has  been  treated  as  an  incantation.  The  instant 
high  lights  appeared,  spells  were  woven.  A 
restraining  potion  of  bromide  soothed  the 
nerves  of  the  image,  a  dash  of  alkali  brought 
out  its  hidden  details,  and  a  swift  change  of 
developer  comforted  the  photographer  with  the 
idea  that  he  was  doing  something. 

After  the  developer  has  been  prepared,  the 
process  of  development  is  like  baking  a  cake, 
which  isn't  improved  by  frequent  examination, 
changing  of  ovens,  or  much  fooling  with  the 
heat.  It  is  only  an  expert  who  can  judge  by 
the  appearance  of  a  negative  in  the  tray,  or  by 

42 


DEVELOPMENT  43 

transmitted  light  in  the  dark-room,  when  its 
development  has  gone  far  enough — and  he  is 
usually  mistaken. 

FACTORIAL  SYSTEM.— A  method  much 
in  vogue  is  the  so-called  factorial  development, 
in  which  the  plate  is  placed  in  the  developer 
and  the  time  noted  until  the  high  lights  begin 
to  appear.  The  seconds  or  minutes  are  multi- 
plied by  the  constant  assigned  to  the  developer 
used,  which  varies  from  5  for  hydroquinone  to 
40  for  rodinal,  and  the  plate  is  left  in  the  de- 
veloper for  that  period  of  time.  Thus,  if  the 
developer  were  rodinal,  and  the  first  high  lights 
appeared  in  30  seconds,  the  plate  would  be  left 
in  the  solution  for  20  minutes.  If  an  ortho- 
chromatic  plate,  especially,  were  watched  in  the 
dark-room  till  the  high  light  could  be  seen,  it 
would  thereafter  make  little  difference  how  long 
the  plate  was  developed,  or  whether  it  was 
developed  at  all,  for  the  first  few  seconds'  ex- 
posure to  even  the  dim  light  of  the  dark-room 
would  ruin  the  plate.  This  is  of  little  impor- 
tance to  the  amateur,  for  he  won't  try  the 
method  but  once,  and  the  expert  is  unlikely  to 
try  it  at  all. 

RULE-OF-THUMB  METHODS.  —  De- 
velopment is  so  far  from  being  an  exact  science 
that  its  rule-of-thumb  methods  horrify  chemists 


44       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

and  fill  volumes  with  formulas  combining  essen- 
tially the  same  ingredients,  in  proportions  that 
vary  without  rhyme  or  reason.  Weights  of 
chemicals  are  given  in  odd  grains  in  cases  where 
misreading  ounces  for  drams  wouldn't  make  an 
observable  difference  in  results.  I  have  ana- 
lyzed scores  of  these  tables,  classifying  and 
averaging  ingredients,  and  testing  results,  with- 
out feeling  that  I  had  advanced  my  knowledge 
of  the  subject  one  iota. 

In  my  first  developer,  pyro  was  the  active 
agent,  and  I  used  pyro  formulas  for  years.  I 
had  an  individual  struggle  with  each  plate,  rush- 
ing the  pyro  when  I  thought  I  wanted  density, 
and  pushing  the  alkali  to  bring  out  elusive  de- 
tails. Sometimes  the  process  was  carried  so 
far  as  to  destroy  the  film.  I  cannot  to-day  think 
without  a  pang  of  my  development  of  a  nega- 
tive which  I  had  exposed  on  a  big  bull  elk  after 
half  a  day's  climbing  and  crawling  to  ap- 
proach him.  The  underexposed  plate  devel- 
oped slowly,  with  the  details  of  the  elk  distinct 
but  faint.  When  carbonate  of  soda  failed  to 
bring  out  more  detail  I  added  a  solution  of 
caustic  potash,  which  accomplished  my  object. 
Then  slowly  the  film  began  to  shrivel,  and  when 
the  plate  had  been  fixed  and  dried  my  beautiful 
wapiti  was  a  piece  of  coarsely  constructed  mo- 


Ji    o 


u    — 


DEVELOPMENT  45 

sale.  Pyro  was  so  given  to  fogging  plates  that 
when  first  I  tried  hydroquinone,  and  looked 
upon  its  clean  work,  its  clear  shadows  and 
strong  high  lights,  I  put  away  upon  the  top 
shelf  of  my  dark-room  my  stock  of  pyro. 

I  tired  of  the  too  great  brilliancy  of  hydro- 
quinone, with  its  lack  of  softness  and  detail,  and 
alternated  its  use  with  eikonogen,  which  was 
then  just  coming  to  the  front.  Although  it 
gave  excellent  detail,  the  latter  lacked  the 
strength  of  which  the  former  had  too  much. 
Often  the  best  effect  was  obtained  by  combining 
them.  My  next  experiment  was  with  metol, 
which  fascinated  by  the  quickness  with  which  it 
made  the  image  flash  out,  but  was  disappoint- 
ing in  its  lack  of  strength,  so  it  joined  the  row 
of  discards  on  the  top  shelf. 

Rodinal  is  a  lazy  man's  developer,  for  it 
only  requires  the  addition  of  water,  ten  parts 
of  which  give  strong  contrasts,  while  a  larger 
quantity  gives  proportional  softness.  One  trial 
of  edinol  sent  rodinal  to  join  its  predecessors, 
and  for  a  long  time  I  revelled  in  the  faith  that 
I  was  making  better  negatives  than  ever  before. 
Later  I  discovered  their  one  defect.  The  prints 
made  from  them  were  as  flat  as  the  plates  were 
spicy.  Lastly,  I  tried  a  pyro  formula  recom- 
mended by  the  makers  of  the  plates  I  was  using. 


46      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

It  gave  me  poor  negatives,  but  they  printed 
wonderfully.  The  picture  on  the  plate  was  a 
mere  shadow,  without  strength  for  the  high 
lights  or  material  for  the  details,  but  the  prints 
were  rich  in  both. 

The  lesson  of  the  experiment,  of  all  the  ex- 
periments, is  that  it  is  a  waste  of  time  for  the 
photographer,  whether  professional  or  ama- 
teur, to  wander  far  afield  in  pursuit  of  new 
developers.  The  great  plate-making  compa- 
nies, with  their  staffs  of  experts,  the  stimulus 
of  rivalry,  the  pressure  of  appeals,  complaints 
and  suggestions  from  thousands  of  customers, 
and  the  knowledge  that  their  prosperity  de- 
pends upon  the  success  of  their  customers  with 
developers,  may  be  relied  upon  to  work  out 
the  formulas  best  adapted  to  their  own  brands 
of  plates  and  emulsions.  They  give  instruc- 
tions and  formulas  for  the  development  of  their 
plates  to  meet  the  idiosyncrasies  of  their  cus- 
tomers, from  the  novice  who  wants  brilliancy, 
to  the  lantern-slide  maker  who  demands  detail, 
and  the  artist  who  must  combine  the  two.  I 
write  to  the  makers  of  my  plates  once  a  year, 
asking  them  if  there  is  anything  new  I  should 
try.  If  they  suggest  something  with  a  reason- 
able sound,  or  that  they  recommend  very  highly, 
I  experiment  a  little  with  it,  but  otherwise  con- 


DEVELOPMENT  47 

tinue  on  the  even  tenor  of  my  way,  using  the 
same  old  solutions  in  the  same  old  way. 

It  is  hard  to  understand  that  brains  don't 
count  In  development,  and  the  amateur  will 
continue  for  a  time  to  stand  over  his  plates, 
ready  to  make  quick  addition  of  restrainer  or 
accelerator  if  the  image  fails  to  appear  in  prop- 
er fashion.  He  will  have  rows  of  different 
developers  at  hand,  from  the  quick-as-a-wink 
variety  to  the  slow,  density-giving  species. 
After  he  has  spoiled  a  lot  of  plates  and  wasted 
much  nervous  energy,  he  will  put  his  judgment 
in  his  pocket,  carry  out  instructions  to  the  letter, 
and  finally  follow  me  to  that  lower  plane  of  in- 
telligence where  negatives  are  developed  me- 
chanically in  tanks.  The  road  that  I  traveled 
to  reach  the  tank  was  long  and  thorny,  and  I 
have  written  so  much  in  detail  hoping  to  shorten 
it  to  the  reader,  for  it  is  the  path  he  will  eventu- 
ally pursue. 

In  my  own  work  I  have  adopted  the  pyro- 
acetone  formula  accompanying  each  box  of  the 
Cramer  plates,  using  60  grains  of  pyro  to  85 
ounces  of  water  at  a  temperature  of  6^  degrees. 
This  calls  for  45  minutes  in  the  solution.  If 
the  plates  are  known  to  be  underexposed,  I 
extend  the  time  to  50,  or,  in  rare  cases,  to  60 
minutes.     I  put  the  plates  in  the  rack  in  com- 


48       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

plete  darkness,  and  Immerse  it  in  the  tank, 
which  has  been  previously  filled  with  the  solu- 
tion. In  about  20  minutes  the  rack  must  be 
taken  out  and  turned  upside  down,  or  there 
will  be  streaks  on  the  negatives.  If  you  have 
a  reversible  tank  you  turn  the  whole  thing 
over,  but  mine  is  not  of  that  kind.  I  had  special 
racks  made,  with  the  plate  entrance  from  the 
side,  which  can  be  turned  upside  down  without 
spilling  the  plates.  The  old  style  can  be  made 
serviceable  by  tying  a  string  around  the  plates 
and  rack,  which  will  keep  the  plates  in  place, 
and  give  practical  service. 

At  the  end  of  forty-five  or  fifty  minutes  the 
solution  is  poured  out  of  the  tank,  which  is 
then  placed  under  a  tap  of  running  water  for 
about  five  minutes.  Plates  and  rack  are  now 
lifted  from  this  tank  into  another  filled  with 
the  hypo,  solution.  After  fixing  thoroughly, 
rack  and  plates  are  transferred  to  running  wa- 
ter, and  left  for  an  hour.  Thus,  from  the  time 
the  undeveloped  plates  are  placed  in  the  rack 
until  they  are  put  up  to  dry,  they  are  handled 
only  in  the  racks.  In  units  of  six.  This  method 
of  working  saves  much  time,  besides  safeguard- 
ing the  plates. 

TANK  DEVELOPMENT.— Tank  devel- 
opment proceeds  with  plates  vertically  placed. 


DEVELOPMENT  49 

permitting  long  development  with  weak  solu- 
tions without  injury  from  sediment.  The  same 
quantity  of  developer  is  required  for  each  six 
plates,  but  in  the  tank  each  plate  starts  with  a 
fresh  solution,  and  all  receive  equal  treatment, 
while  in  the  trays  they  are  treated  tandem,  and 
no  two  are  developed  alike. 

AFTER  TREATMENT.— If  there  is 
doubt  about  the  sufficiency  of  the  exposure,  it 
is  better  to  develop  for  underexposure,  since 
overdevelopment  is  easily  corrected.  Reduc- 
tion by  Farmer's  solution  will  remove  the 
density  without  changing  values  while  the  per- 
sulphate solution  cuts  down  contrast  in  the 
negative,  often  giving  you  reason  to  rejoice  in 
the  overdevelopment.  Intensification  is  seldom 
satisfactory,  and  your  comfort  in  a  case  of 
underexposure  is  the  knowledge  that  tank  de- 
velopment has  done  all  for  the  plate  that  was 
possible  in  the  present  state  of  the  art.  Before 
reducing  or  intensifying  a  negative  it  is  well  to 
make  a  print  from  it,  for  many  unexpected 
effects  are  produced  by  over  thin  or  extra  thick 
plates,  and  it  is  well  to  see  the  finished  picture 
before  changing  conditions.  Plates  exposed  in 
summer  in  Florida,  in  winter  in  Canada,  in  city 
streets  and  studios,  and  in  rocky  gorges  receive 
the  same  treatment  with  only  negligible  modifi- 


50       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

cations.  I  have  said  that  the  variation  of  time 
of  development  between  over  and  underexpo- 
sure was  from  forty  to  fifty  minutes. 

VARYING  TEMPERATURES.  —  The 
range  of  temperature  is  even  less.  In  summer, 
the  outside  heat  will  slowly  raise  that  of  the 
solution,  so  I  begin  with  it  a  little  below  65 ; 
while  in  winter  I  start  with  it  a  little  higher. 
Whenever  practicable,  I  put  off  the  develop- 
ment of  plates  until  my  return  to  my  workroom, 
in  the  mountains.  Here,  winter  and  summer, 
spring  water  flows  at  a  temperature  of  46  in 
any  volume  required.  Quality  and  temperature 
are  wonderfully  adapted  to  photographic  work. 
Often,  solutions  of  mixed  developers  keep  clear 
and  ready  for  use  through  an  entire  calendar 
year. 

But  the  same  formula  and  the  same  tank  are 
used  under  conditions  that  are  different.  I  have 
spent  summers  in  Florida  on  a  small  houseboat, 
outside  of  the  zone  of  ice,  and  almost  beyond 
that  of  fresh  water.  Exposed  plates  were  piled 
high,  and  when  fortune  favored  us  with  a  cake 
of  ice  I  retired  to  the  tiny  dark-room,  where, 
for  many,  many  hours,  I  sweltered.  Blankets 
were  kept  on  the  cabin  roof,  and  water  thrown 
over  them  every  half  hour.  The  tank  was 
swathed  in  a  blanket  that  had  been  dipped  in 


DEVELOPMENT  51 

ice  water,  while  bits  of  ice  were  constantly  add- 
ed to  the  solution  in  the  tank.  Instead  of  a  real 
wash  between  developing  and  fixing,  the  plates 
received  a  couple  of  rinsings.  The  hypo,  bath 
was  kept  iced,  and  fresh  hypo,  continually  add- 
ed, that  the  dissolving  chemical  might  aid  in 
keeping  the  solution  cool.  Washing  the  plates 
consisted  in  soaking  them  in  three  changes  of 
ice  water.  Drying  the  plate  was  tedious,  and  if 
a  fly  walked  across  it  during  the  process,  his 
feet  sank  through  the  film  to  the  glass,  marking 
his  trail  by  a  series  of  holes  the  size  of  a  pin. 


FORMULA  FOR  TANK  DEVELOPMENT 

Pyro 60  grains 

Sulphite  soda 200  grains 

Oxalic  acid i^  minims 

Liquid  acetone 54  ounce 

Water 85  ounces 

At  a  temperature  of  65°    Fahr.   develop   plates   for  45 
minutes. 


FORMULA  FOR  TRAY  DEVELOPMENT 

Edinol 36  grains 

Hydroquinone 5  grains 

Sulphite  soda  (anhydrous) 24  grains 

Acetone-sulphite 15  grains 

Potas.  carbonate  (anhydrous) 120  grains 

Water 16  ounces 


52      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

FORMULA  FOR  FIXING  BATH 

Hyposulphite  of  soda i  ounce 

Water 4  ounces 

FORMULA  FOR  FARMER'S  REDUCER 

Hyposulphite  of  soda i  ounce 

Red  prussiate  potash 60  grains 

Water 16  ounces 

Mix  just  before  using  and  keep  in  subdued  daylight. 

FORMULA  FOR  PERSULPHATE  REDUCER 

Persulphate  of  ammonium 240  grains 

Water 16  ounces 

When  the  intensity  is  sufficiently  reduced,  rinse  imme- 
diately and  immerse  the  negative  in  solution  of  sulphite 
of  soda,  one  part  to  ten  of  water.    Then  wash  and  dry. 


Chapter   V 
PRINTS   AND    PRINTING 

I  HAVE  experimented  with  printing  methods 
by  the  dozen,  from  salting  and  sensitizing 
plain  paper  to  working  with  carbon  tis- 
sue; from  electrotyping  intaglio  effects  of  film  to 
etching  photographic  pictures  on  glass  with  hy- 
drofluoric acid  vapor,  and  I  shall  earn  the  grati- 
tude of  the  reader,  even  though  he  may  never 
know  it,  by  sparing  him  the  recital  of  my  trou- 
bles, for  triumphs  were  few.  Even  of  the 
recognized  and  useful  processes,  from  the  prac- 
tical blue-print  to  the  artistic  gum-bichromate, 
a  full  description  would  require  volumes,  and 
exhaust  my  information  in  its  early  stages.  I 
shall  limit  this  chapter  to  a  consideration  of 
five  typical  methods,  representative  of  processes 
in  general  use  which  I  believe  merit  the  study 
of  the  amateur. 

SOLIO. — Gelatino-chloride  paper,  of  which 
Solio  is  a  good  example,  gives  prints  that  are 

51 


54       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

accounted  less  artistic  than  those  obtained  by 
the  platinum  process,  and  that  can  bear  no 
comparison  with  the  effects  secured  through  the 
proper  use  of  carbon  tissue,  but  their  pleasing 
contrasts,  depth  of  shadows,  and  clearness  of 
detail  lend  themselves  to  reproduction  and  en- 
largement, and  they  are  in  universal  demand 
for  magazine  use.  Solio  is  a  printing-out  pa- 
per, in  which  the  full  strength  is  brought  out 
in  the  printing  frame  by  exposure  to  light  of 
the  sun,  direct  or  diffused.  The  negative  is 
placed  in  the  frame,  face  up,  in  the  usual  way, 
a  sheet  of  the  sensitized  paper  laid  face  down 
upon  it,  and  the  hinged  back  fastened  in  its 
place.  The  frame  is  now  placed  in  the  sun, 
with  the  planes  of  the  negative  at  right  angles 
to  its  rays.  Little  adjustable  frames  to  hold 
it  in  place  can  be  cheaply  bought  or  manufac- 
tured at  home. 

PRINTING  SOLIO.— As  the  printing  pro- 
ceeds, the  frame  is  occasionally  taken  into  a 
well-shaded  corner,  one  side  of  the  hinged  back 
opened,  and  the  turned-up  paper  examined  for 
an  instant.  When  the  paper  is  a  few  shades 
darker  than  is  desired  in  the  finished  print  it 
should  be  removed  from  the  frame  and  placed 
in  a  light-tight  box.  Both  before  and  after 
printing,  the  sensitive  paper  should  be  kept  in 


PRINTS    AND    PRINTING         55 

the  dark,  and  the  necessary  handling  performed 
in  as  dim  a  hght  as  practicable. 

Often  a  print  can  be  improved  by  shading 
from  the  bright  sunlight  some  part  that  would 
otherwise  print  too  far.  This  can  be  done  with 
a  piece  of  cardboard,  which  must  be  kept  in 
constant  motion,  or  lines  will  show  that  will 
spoil  the  print.  The  first  few  prints  you  experi- 
ment with  in  this  way  will  be  spoiled  anyhow, 
but  in  the  end  you  will  find  the  method  a  valu- 
able adjunct  to  your  work.  It  is  almost  uni- 
versally recommended  to  print  weak  negatives 
by  diffused  light,  and  even  through  a  few  thick- 
nesses of  tissue  paper.  The  value  of  this  prac- 
tice seems  to  me  to  have  been  overestimated, 
and  it  is  long  since  I  have  bothered  with  it. 

TONING  SOLIO.— After  printing,  the 
prints  must  be  toned,  fixed  and  finished,  but  this 
can  be  done  at  convenience,  as  they  deteriorate 
very  slowly  if  kept  in  darkness.  Toning  is  very 
important,  and  there  are  many  methods  and 
formulas,  but  none  better  or  simpler  than  the 
one  I  append.  One  who  experiments  with  ton- 
ing baths  is  likely  to  come  to  grief.  Many  years 
ago  I  tried  the  then  novel  combined  toning  and 
fixing  bath.  Never  were  tones  so  lovely,  so 
easily  obtained.  Never,  too,  were  objects  as 
ugly  as  the  prints  thus  toned,  after  a  few  years 


S6       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

had  passed.  I  have  books  of  prints  so  treated 
which  I  keep  as  horrible  examples.  It  Is  prob- 
able that  toning  by  such  a  combined  bath  is 
sulphur,  instead  of  gold,  toning. 

My  treatment  of  gelatino-chloride  paper 
after  printing  has  for  years  been  as  follows : 

WASH  15  minutes  in  a  tray  of  running  wa- 
ter, keeping  the  prints  moving. 

TONE  in  bath  made  as  follows- 

Gold  stock  solution ^  ounce 

Borax  stock  solution V/^  ounces 

Water,  at  60  degrees 45      ounces 

This  quantity  is  sufficient  to  tone  24  6^  x 
Sj'i  prints.  The  stock  gold  solution  consists  of 
15  grains  chloride  of  gold  dissolved  in  7^ 
ounces  of  water.  The  stock  borax  solution 
consists  of  3^  ounce  of  borax  in  12  ounces  of 
water. 

Tone  until  the  red  In  the  prints  changes  to 
brown,  or  prints  begin  to  lose  detail.  With 
paper  that  is  fresh  this  takes  about  4  minutes. 
With  paper  i  month  old  it  needs  about  7 
minutes,  while  four  months'  old  paper  requires 
nearly  12  minutes.  Some  lots  of  paper  tone 
more  slowly,  but  the  above  relation  continues  to 
obtain.  It  is  my  observation  that  the  older 
paper,   although  taking  longer  to   tone,   gives 


PRINTS    AND    PRINTING         57 

richer  results,  and  is  less  weakened  in  the  fixing 
bath.  The  most  important  step  in  toning  is 
taken  when  the  sensitive  plate  is  exposed  in 
the  camera.  The  particles  of  gold  in  the  toning 
bath  eagerly  hunt  their  respective  places  in  a 
print  made  from  a  properly  exposed,  fairly  de- 
veloped negative.  They  build  up  into  masses 
of  warm  browns  and  royal  purples  in  the  deeper 
shadows  of  the  picture,  contrasting  richly  with 
the  brilliancy  of  its  high  lights.  Often  an  under 
or  overexposed  negative  will  make  a  fair  show- 
ing in  a  print  until  the  acid  test  of  toning  is 
applied.  Then  the  atoms  of  gold  are  as  hard 
to  herd  as  a  drove  of  pigs,  and  smear  the  print 
with  faded  blues  and  yellowish  browns.  I  tone 
In  a  tray  slightly  larger  than  the  prints,  putting 
in  24  at  a  time.  They  are  added  to  the  solution 
in  pairs,  back  to  back,  and  when  all  are  in  the 
solution  the  lowest  pair  can  be  slipped  out, 
turned  over,  and  laid  on  top.  This  is  continued 
without  cessation  until  the  prints  are  toned.  In 
this  way  the  prints  are  presented  consecutively 
to  the  eye  and  the  color  may  be  noted.  After 
a  little  experience  one  can  tone  by  the  watch, 
enabling  him  to  work  by  lamplight,  but  the 
method  of  manipulation  should  be  the  same  and 
the  motion  of  the  prints  in  the  solution  not  inter- 
mitted. 


58       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

WASH,  after  toning,  for  about  five  minutes. 
FIX  15  minutes  in  bath,  as  follows: 

Hyposulphite  soda   stock   solution 3I/2  ounces 

Water 35      ounces 

Stock  solution  of  hypo,  made  by  dissolving  i  pound 
hypo,  in  ^2  ounces  of  water. 

WASH  one  hour,  in  running  water,  if  pos- 
sible, otherwise  in  12  changes  of  water. 

SQUEEGEE. — As  prints  are  taken  from  the 
wash  water  lay  them  face  down  on  squeegee 
plates,  and  go  over  them  lightly  with  a  flat 
squeegee  to  remove  air  bells.  Lay  a  clean  towel 
on  them,  and  finish  with  a  roller  squeegee. 
Stand  them  on  a  shelf  to  dry,  after  which  they 
will  peel  easily  from  the  plate,  and  show  all 
the  finish  of  the  polished  plate  itself. 

TRIMMING. — The  artistic  value  of  every 
print  can  be  increased  by  proper  trimming,  but 
In  that  respect  the  amateur  must  work  out  his 
own  salvation. 

MOUNTING. — In  mounting  these  prints, 
thick  paste  should  be  used,  applying  as  little  as 
possible,  around  the  extreme  edge  of  the  print, 
that  Its  surface  may  retain  Its  brilliancy. 

PLATINUM  PRINTS.— Platinum  prints 
are  capable  of  producing  artistic  effects  soft  and 
gray,  sometimes  shading  to  nearly  black.     The 


PRINTS    AND    PRINTING         59 

paper  Is  more  expensive  than  that  used  In  other 
processes;  It  develops  very  rapidly,  but  it  is 
difficult  to  get  the  printing  exactly  right.  The 
developer  is  best  bought  ready-made  of  the 
dealer,  and  instructions  that  come  with  the  pa- 
per should  be  closely  followed.  The  process 
is  about  as  follows:  Print  till  the  image  Is 
faintly  outlined  on  the  paper.  This  will  take 
about  one-third  of  the  time  required  to  com- 
plete the  printing  of  the  usual  varieties  of  print- 
ing-out papers. 

Develop  by  immersing  In,  or  floating  on,  a 
solution  of  one  part  oxalate  of  potash  to  6  or 
8  parts  of  water  for  a  few  seconds.  The  tem- 
perature of  this  bath  should  be  about  70  de- 
grees. Fix  the  prints  by  immersion  for  5  min- 
utes in  a  bath  of  one  part  chemically  pure  hy- 
drochloric acid  to  60  parts  of  water.  Repeat 
this  twice  with  fresh  baths. 

BROMIDE  PAPER.— Bromide  paper  gives 
results  similar  to  platinum  and  is  the  only  paper 
sensitive  enough  for  enlargements.  It  Is  made 
with  glossy,  matte  or  rough  surfaces,  and  is 
capable  of  giving  a  variety  of  tones  through 
development,  for  which  the  makers  give  Instruc- 
tions and  formulas.  Any  clear-working  plate 
developer,  diluted  to  about  half  strength,  can 
be  used. 


6o      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

Expose  the  paper  beneath  the  negative,  in  the 
printing  frame,  to  any  artificial  light,  from  elec- 
tric to  candle.  The  exposure  may  vary  from 
a  few  seconds  to  many  minutes.  By  printing 
from  the  same  light  at  a  uniform  distance,  the 
proper  time  of  exposure  for  a  given  negative 
can  be  quickly  learned.  The  exposure  pro- 
duces no  visible  image,  but  the  print  is  devel- 
oped, rinsed,  fixed,  washed  and  dried,  like  a 
negative  plate  or  film.  A  good  formula  for  a 
developer  is : 

Amidol 24  grains 

Bromide  of  potassium 12  grains 

Sulphite  of  soda 120  grains 

Acid  bisulphite Vz  ounce 

Water 10  ounces 

FIXING  BATH 

Hyposulphite  soda 4  ounces 

Bisulphite  of  soda i  ounce 

Water 20  ounces 

VELOX  PAPER.— Of  the  so-called  gas- 
light papers,  or  those  requiring  development, 
Velox  is  the  best  known  and  most  widely  used 
by  amateurs.  Its  treatment  is  the  same  as  bro- 
mide paper,  excepting  that  the  exposure  must 
be  longer,  and  the  developer  should  be  of  the 
strength  of  those  used  with  sensitive  plates,  or 


PRINTS    AND    PRINTING         6i 

about  twice  that  of  those  that  work  best  with 
bromide  paper. 

CARBON  PRINTING.— Carbon  printing, 
more  than  any  one  process  in  photography, 
initiates  the  camera  user  into  the  higher  realms 
of  the  art.  A  good  carbon  print  is  the  most 
artistic  one  that  can  be  made  from  a  suitable 
negative,  and  a  negative  that  will  not  print  well 
in  carbon  had  best  be  thrown  away.  The  car- 
bon print  is  the  court  of  last  resort,  and  no 
appeal  is  possible. 

Platinum,  Solio,  Velox,  each  does  better  with 
a  certain  character  of  negative,  and  just  so 
long  as  you  use  any  of  these  you  will  excuse  the 
poor  result  by  thinking  that  the  plate  is  "not 
adapted"  to  that  kind  of  print.  When  you 
have  become  proficient  in  carbon  printing,  and 
cannot  get  a  good  print  from  your  negative, 
blame  yourself,  and  set  about  learning  how  to 
make  plates  that  will  give  you  satisfactory  re- 
sults. Therefore,  learn  to  make  carbon  prints. 
If  anybody  tells  you  that  they  are  easy  to  make, 
throw  a  brick  at  him,  for  he  is  a  deceiver.  The 
process  needs  treatment  at  length,  so  acquire 
some  book  on  the  subject,  for  but  few  words 
can  be  given  to  it  here. 

CARBON  TISSUE.— Fine  particles  of  col- 
oring matter,  such  as  lampblack,  are  held  in 


62       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

place  by  a  gelatine  film.  This  film  is  soaked  in 
a  solution  of  bichromate  of  potash  and  dried 
in  the  dark.  Upon  exposure  to  light  the  film 
becomes  insoluble  in  water.  Exposed  under  a 
negative,  the  parts  of  the  tissue  under  the  bare 
glass  are  made  insoluble,  the  parts  under  the 
opaque  sections  of  the  negative  remain  soluble, 
and  the  intermediate  tints  more  or  less  soluble. 
Thus,  after  having  exposed  the  piece  of  carbon 
tissue  (the  technical  name  of  the  film)  under  a 
negative,  if  it  is  placed  in  water  the  insoluble 
parts  remain  black,  the  soluble  parts  will  wash 
entirely  away,  leaving  white  paper,  and  between 
these  two  extremes  will  be  the  complete  range 
of  tints  from  white  to  black. 

By  varying  the  strength  of  the  bichromate 
solution  softness  or  strength  may  be  had  in  the 
print.  By  transferring  the  carbon  to  tissue 
paper  the  softness  of  that  material  may  be 
availed  of;  by  changing  it  to  rough  drawing 
paper  the  sketchy  effect  may  be  had;  by  making 
the  print  on  porcelain  or  opal  glass,  the  translu- 
cent softness  of  that  substance  may  add  to  the 
charm  of  the  print.  This  use  of  many  materials 
is  possible  because  of  the  one  real  trouble  in 
carbon  printing:  After  exposure  to  light  the 
carbon  tissue  must  be  transferred  to  some  sup- 
port other  than  the  paper  on  which  it  comes  to 


PRINTS    AND    PRINTING         63 

you;  for  to  retain  the  delicate  details,  the  solu- 
ble particles  must  be  dissolved  from  the  back 
of  the  tissue. 

Another  bugaboo  is  really  an  advantage. 
The  action  of  light  on  the  tissue  is  not  apparent 
to  the  eye,  hence  some  form  of  actinometer 
must  be  used.  Frequently  I  use  this  for  making 
prints  on  Solio  paper,  for  it  is  really  more  con- 
venient than  the  continual  examination  of  prints 
necessary  without  it.  A  tissue  sensitized  in  a 
3  per  cent  solution  of  bichromate  needs  one- 
half  the  time  of  exposure  that  a  Solio  print  re- 
quires to  reach  the  shade  desired  in  the  finished 
product.  An  actinometer  is  easily  and  cheaply 
made  but  we  will  here  work  without  it,  using  a 
watch  instead.  The  support  to  which  we  trans- 
fer the  print  is  coated  with  a  solution  of  gelatine 
and  alum,  and  hung  up  to  dry. 

The  tissue  does  not  keep  well  after  its  im- 
mersion in  the  sensitizing  bath,  so  that  had  best 
be  done  one  or  two  days  before  using,  and  it 
must  be  dried  just  quickly  enough.  Too  rapid 
drying  makes  the  tissue  brittle  to  handle;  too 
slow  drying  makes  it  insoluble  and  clogs  up  the 
high  lights;  about  six  hours  is  the  proper  time. 
A  "safety  edge"  must  be  put  around  the  nega- 
tive, so  that  the  edge  of  the  tissue  does  not  print 
at  all,  else  the  print  will  be  liable  to  tear  when 


64      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

we  remove  the  backing  or  paper  on  which  it 
comes. 

PRINTING. — Our  sensitive  tissue  having 
been  properly  sensitized  and  dried,  awaits  us 
in  the  dark-room.  We  put  a  little  strip  of  Solio 
paper  under  the  negative  in  the  printing  frame, 
and  find  that  it  takes  five  minutes  to  reach  the 
shade  desired.  Then  we  place  the  safety  edge 
on  the  plate,  and  over  that  the  carbon  tissue. 
After  leaving  the  frame  out  in  the  sun  for  2^ 
minutes  we  bring  it  to  the  dark-room.  In  a 
large  tray  we  have  soaked  a  piece  of  "support," 
as  the  substance  to  which  we  shall  transfer  the 
tissue  is  called,  until  it  is  thoroughly  limp.  In 
this  same  water  we  put  the  exposed  piece  of 
tissue,  being  careful  to  submerge  it  entirely  and 
to  free  it  from  air  bells.  As  soon  as  it  is  limp 
we  draw  tissue  and  support  from  the  water, 
place  both  on  a  pile  of  blotters,  and  vigorously 
and  thoroughly  go  over  them  with  a  flat  rubber 
squeegee  until  water  and  air  bells  are  squeezed 
out.  It  is  well  to  protect  the  tissue  during  this 
operation  by  a  piece  of  light  rubber  cloth. 

Then  we  place  two  or  three  thicknesses  of 
blotter  over  the  print,  a  board  or  piece  of  heavy 
glass  over  them,  and  a  weight  on  top  of  this. 
After  twenty  minutes  or  so  the  tissue  and  sup- 
port, sticking  fast  together,  are  submerged  in  a 


i 


PRINTS    AND    PRINTING         65 

tray  of  water,  at  a  temperature  of  100  degrees 
Fahrenheit.  After  a  few  moments  the  particles 
of  carbon  will  begin  to  ooze  from  under  the 
edge  of  the  paper  backing  of  the  tissue.  When 
this  has  gone  just  far  enough  it  must  be  lifted 
by  one  corner  and  very  gently  pulled  away. 
This  is  the  critical  point  of  the  whole  proceed- 
ing, and  the  one  most  likely  to  cause  failure. 
We  have  left  a  soft,  sticky  mass  of  black  car- 
bon. By  prolonged  soaking  in  the  water  and 
gentle  rocking  of  the  tray  this  will  wash  away 
until  we  have  left  a  carbon  print. 

After  all  soluble  matter  is  removed  the  print 
is  washed  for  a  few  moments  in  fresh  water  and 
then  "fixed" — i.e.,  rendered  insoluble — in  a 
bath  of  alum.  It  is  then  washed  for  a  few 
moments,  hung  up  to  dry,  and  is  ready  for 
mounting.  If  water  of  100  degrees  does  not 
soak  away  enough  of  the  carbon,  it  may  be 
heated  to  a  slightly  higher  temperature;  no  Is 
the  limit  of  safety,  although  sometimes  we  can 
go  much  higher. 

I  have  spoken  here  of  only  the  "single  trans- 
fer" process,  which  will  give  a  reversed  print; 
that  is,  one  as  seen  in  a  looking-glass.  If  it  is 
desirable  to  have  the  right  hand  appear  as  the 
right  hand,  a  double  transfer  is  necessary.  This 
is  accomplished  by  developing  the  tissue  on  a 


66       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

"temporary  support,"  from  which  It  is  again 
transferred  when  the  first  process  is  completed. 
Carbon  printing  is  not  as  complicated  as  this 
account  may  sound,  and  the  aspirant  for  the 
higher  ranks  of  photography  should  learn  to 
make  them. 


Chapter  VI 
COMPOSITION 

THE  preceding  chapters  on  the  technical 
side  of  photography  have  been  neces- 
sary, but  had  best  be  forgotten  now  that 
you  have  the  essentials.  There  are  experts  in 
every  branch  ready  to  help  you  for  the  asking. 
Any  dealer  will  advise  you  in  the  selection  of  a 
camera.  These  instruments  are  often  already 
provided  with  lenses  which  have  been  carefully 
chosen  by  the  makers  of  the  cameras.  The 
dealer  will  further  advise,  the  manufacturer  of 
the  camera  will  gladly  help,  or  the  editor  of 
your  photographic  magazine  will  supply  you 
with  any  aid  in  his  power.  Any  good  brand  of 
plates  will  do — ask  the  dealer's  opinion. 

For  developer  use  one  of  the  formulas  ac- 
companying each  box  of  them.  These  are  made 
up  by  experts  especially  for  that  particular 
brand  of  plate.  If  the  plates  don't  work  right, 
take  your  troubles  to  the  dealer,  the  editor  or 

67 


68      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

the  manufacturer — they  are  ready  to  help.  Ask 
any  friend  who  is  a  photographer  himself,  and 
you  won't  be  able  to  break  away  from  him  if 
you  show  a  real  interest  in  the  subject.  But 
don't  begin  by  asking  anybody  to  admire  your 
early  efforts.  They  are  merely  stepping-stones. 
If  you  really  think  that  they  are  extraordinary 
pictures,  send  them  to  some  exhibition  and  see 
what  happens.  That's  the  way  I  learned  my 
first  lesson  and  got  my  start  on  the  road  to  im- 
provement. It  is  a  most  effective  method.  But 
don't  decide  that  the  trouble  is  with  plates,  for- 
mulas or  apparatus.  Having  selected  certain 
brands,  stick  to  them,  and  don't  change.  The 
fault  is  with  you,  and  you  will  be  longer  in  dis- 
covering it  if  you  change  makes. 

RULES. — It  is  with  your  excursion  into  the 
field  of  artistic  composition  that  real  interest  be- 
gins, for  henceforth  you  travel  the  way  that  is 
individual.  No  dealer,  no  manufacturer,  can 
direct  you  in  that  journey;  you  must  help  your- 
self. Develop  your  powers  of  observation  and 
appreciation.  There  are  rules  of  composition 
which  you  must  learn  so  thoroughly  that  you 
apply  them  automatically.  Remember  that 
while  a  master  may  successfully  break  rules  it  is 
folly  for  the  beginner  to  attempt  it. 

If  the  scene  is  a  broad  expanse  of  open  view, 


COMPOSITION  69 

a  good  general  rule  is  to  put  the  horizon  about 
one-third  from  the  bottom.  If  the  foreground 
is  the  point  of  interest,  put  it  one-third  from 
the  top  of  the  plate. 

Never  get  the  horizon  line  exactly  in  the 
center  of  the  plate. 

If  a  road  or  a  river  runs  down  the  middle 
of  the  scene,  move  your  camera  to  one  side 
so  that  the  lines  will  cross  the  plate  at  an  angle. 

Never  allow  the  lines  to  run  up  the  middle  of 
the  picture. 

Do  not  crowd  your  plate.  One  figure  is  bet- 
ter than  six,  the  trunk  of  a  tree  better  worth  a 
picture  than  a  forest. 

Place  the  tree  or  the  figure  about  two-fifths 
from  the  right  or  left  hand  side  of  the  picture. 
The  principal  object  is  not  always  obvious,  and 
it  can  be  emphasized  by  getting  the  lines  of  the 
picture  to  converge  on  it,  thus  drawing  the  eyes 
of  the  spectator  to  it. 

Never  place  the  principal  object  of  interest 
in  the  center  of  the  print. 

Repetition  is  useful  for  adding  strength. 
Thus,  if  a  tree  is  the  object  of  interest,  it  can 
be  emphasized  by  other  trees  following  the 
same  lines,  but  fainter  and  less  distinct  as  they 
disappear  in  the  distance,  and  by  this  very  qual- 
ity calling  attention  to  the  one  that  stands  out. 


70      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

When  you  pick  up  a  magazine  analyze  the 
illustrations  that  appeal  to  you,  and  see  how 
the  artist  has  composed  his  picture.  Note  the 
poses  of  actors  on  the  stage,  and  see  how  care- 
fully studied  is  the  balance  always  maintained. 

Composition  is  defined  as  "the  practice  of 
so  combining  the  different  parts  of  a  work  of 
art  as  to  produce  a  harmonious  whole."  The 
elements  must  fit  together,  they  must  be  in  har- 
mony and  balance  one  another.  The  beggar 
must  not  be  in  fashionable  garments,  nor  the 
society  girl  in  rustic  clothes.  The  ladder  must 
lean  against  something,  and  the  toppling  build- 
ing be  propped  up  with  a  heavy  piece  of  timber. 
Unconsciously  the  eye  demands  the  supporting 
beam  under  the  building.  Without  it  the  mind 
is  not  at  rest,  for  that  fear  of  falling  is  pres- 
ent. This  illustration  must  not  be  taken  liter- 
ally, but  it  serves  to  convey  the  Idea. 

EXAMPLE. — I  have  in  mind  a  picture  of 
some  horses  hauling  a  heavy  load  across  the 
soft  sand  of  a  beach.  They  are  powerful  beasts, 
with  shaggy  manes  and  long  tails.  They  fit 
the  surroundings.  The  harness  is  the  kind  that 
such  horses,  doing  such  work,  would  wear. 
The  driver,  in  figure  and  dress,  belongs  to  the 
scene.  Thus  we  have  harmony.  The  effect  of 
effort  is  conveyed  by  the  attitude  of  the  horses. 


COMPOSITION  71 

Harnessed  in  tanden'x,  each  beast  is  struggling 
forward,  straining  against  its  collar.  The 
driver,  too,  leans  forward,  whip  in  hand,  as 
he  urges  the  team  to  better  efforts.  This  con- 
veys the  idea  of  intense  struggle,  but,  left  alone, 
would  leave  you  with  that  sense  of  falling 
which  you  would  feel  with  the  unsupported 
building.  To  correct  this  trouble  the  artist 
makes  use  of  deep  ruts  in  the  nearby  fore- 
ground. These  run  across  the  picture  at  such 
an  angle  as  to  produce  the  effect  of  the  beam 
wedged  in  under  the  leaning  shed,  thus  supply- 
ing the  balance  to  the  picture  as  a  whole.  To 
make  these  lines  a  little  clearer  to  you:  The 
horses  are  traveling  from  right  to  left,  leaning 
ahead.  The  ruts  run  from  left  to  right,  ascend- 
ing from  the  lower  left-hand  corner  of  the  pic- 
ture, so  as  to  form  an  angle  of  approximately 
ninety  degrees  with  the  leaning  horses. 

CHIAROSCURO.— Besides  balance  of  line, 
the  subject  of  composition  takes  into  account 
masses  of  light  and  shade.  Chiaroscuro  it  is 
called.  To  realize  how  important  is  this  fea- 
ture, think  of  some  of  the  dabs  of  India  ink 
in  Chinese  decorations.  Why  are  they  effective? 
You  will  do  well  to  study  any  examples  within 
reach,  for  the  proper  proportioning  and  placing 
of  these  masses  will  make  a  picture. 


72       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

A  geometrical  design  is  not  art,  else  we 
would  reduce  the  subject  to  a  science.  Two 
lines  drawn  across  a  sheet  of  paper,  dividing 
it  into  four  equal  parts,  make  a  geometrical  fig- 
ure, but  not  an  artistic  design.  Shading  one, 
two  or  three  of  these  equal  parts  does  not  make 
a  picture;  but  two  lines  can  be  drawn  across  a 
sheet  of  paper  so  as  to  make  a  pleasing  division 
of  that  expanse  of  unbroken  white,  and  shading 
one,  two,  or  three  of  them  gives  masses  of  light 
and  shadow  that  are  distinctly  attractive.  Try 
this  with  a  pad  and  pencil ;  it  will  help  you  with 
your  next  landscape  photograph. 

The  photograph  taken  with  your  camera 
may  please  (i)  by  representing  Nature,  (2) 
as  a  design  with  attractive  arrangement  of  line 
and  mass  without  regard  to  its  subject,  or  (3), 
by  telling  a  story.  But  to  be  a  picture,  it  must 
to  some  extent  fulfil  all  these  requirements.  It 
must  at  once  be  natural,  decorative,  and  convey 
a  sentiment. 

The  only  rule  for  success  is  that  of  continual 
study.  Strive  to  improve  by  looking  at  exam- 
ples from  the  best  artists  and  by  everlasting 
observation  of  the  beauties  around  you.  Before 
going  afield  you  will  do  well  to  visit  some  art 
gallery.  Study  good  pictures,  and  note  their 
simplicity,  their  charm  of  homely  human  inter- 


1 


COMPOSITION  73 

est,  their  scant  material.  Then  work  out  your 
own  salvation.  Remember  that  a  good  compo- 
sition is  one  that  creates  a  feeling  of  satisfac- 
tion, of  completeness,  and  conveys  the  best 
sentiment  of  the  subject  portrayed. 


Chapter  VII 
LANDSCAPES 

CAMERA. — The  stand  camera  is  adapted 
to  landscape  work.  It  has  various  con- 
trivances to  assist  the  photographer, 
either  to  overcome  natural  difficulties  or  to  as- 
sist him  in  making  use  of  the  idiosyncrasies  of 
his  tools.  The  hand  camera  is,  at  least,  a  make- 
shift for  this  branch  of  photography.  It  does 
good  work  in  the  hands  of  an  expert,  and  even 
the  tyro  has  occasional  success  with  it,  but  the 
beginner  would  get  better  results,  and  get  them 
oftener,  if  he  confined  himself  to  the  less  con- 
venient tripod  camera.  The  expert  has  learned 
by  experience  the  limitations  of  the  hand  instru- 
ment, and  he  uses  it  in  such  ways  as  to  minimize 
these  restrictions  while  emphasizing  the  good 
points  of  catching  action,  spirit  and  unstudied 
poses,  to  which  it  is  especially  adapted.  All 
general  rules  are  applicable  to  the  hand  as  well 
as  the  tripod  camera,  so  it  is  the  use  of  the 
latter  to  which  we  shall  confine  this  chapter. 

74 


LANDSCAPES  75 

BELLOWS. — The  camera  should  have  am- 
ple length  of  bellows,  and  these  should  be  made 
of  the  best  leather,  to  avoid  the  susceptibility 
to  sagging.  The  extra  length  will  be  required 
when  a  lens  of  long  focus  is  used  or  when  a 
subject  very  near  at  hand  is  pictured.  The 
sagging  will,  sooner  or  later,  spoil  a  picture,  as 
the  bellows  will  cut  off  part  of  the  plate  from 
exposure,  and  thus  probably  leave  your  fore- 
ground figure  without  feet  or  the  steeple  with- 
out a  church. 

RISING  FRONT.— The  front  board  car- 
rying the  lens  should  slide  up  and  down.  This 
is  called  the  "rising  and  falling  front."  It  is 
used  when  the  subject  to  be  photographed  is 
not  directly  in  front  of  and  level  with  the  cam- 
era. To  keep  our  perspective  correct,  and  the 
lines  of  the  building  before  the  camera  parallel, 
the  camera  must  be  level,  but  it  is  obvious  that 
ordinarily  the  camera  is  about  level  with  the 
ground  floor,  while  the  building  rises  to  heights 
above.  If  our  camera  is  kept  level,  and  the 
lens  in  the  middle  of  the  plate,  we  will  have  a 
lot  of  foreground  which  we  don't  wish  on  the 
plate,  but  only  part  of  the  building.  The  front 
board  is  supported  by  rods,  up  and  down  which 
it  will  slide.  Thumb-screws  lock  it  at  any 
point.    Some  subjects  rise  too  high  for  such  cor- 


76      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

rection ;  we  are  obliged  to  tip  the  camera  to  get 
these  all  on  the  plates. 

SWING  BACK. — It  is  not  necessary  that 
the  camera,  as  a  whole,  be  level,  but  simply 
that  the  ground  glass  (which,  while  used  for 
focusing,  occupies  the  exact  position  of  the  sen- 
sitive plate  when  the  exposure  is  made)  shall 
be  kept  perpendicular,  to  keep  the  lines  of  the 
building  from  distortion.  Thus,  if  we  tip  the 
camera,  but  swing  the  ground  glass  to  a  perpen- 
dicular position,  we  accomplish  two  things  at 
once:  we  get  the  tall  object  on  our  plate,  and 
we  keep  the  image  free  from  false  lines.  To 
enable  us  to  do  this  the  camera  is  equipped 
with  a  "swing  back."  This  is  simply  a  double 
pivot  in  the  middle  of  the  frame  holding  the 
ground  glass,  which  allows  us  to  swing  that 
frame  to  such  an  angle  that  it  will  be  parallel 
with  the  subject  to  be  taken. 

Most  cameras  have  a  double  swing  back, 
which  enables  the  operator  to  change  the  hori- 
zontal as  well  as  the  perpendicular  plane  of  the 
ground  glass.  This  is  used  to  compensate  for 
different  focal  lengths.  For  instance,  in  a  land- 
scape the  nearby  foreground  will  need  an  ex- 
tension of  the  bellows  (or  distance  between  the 
lens  and  plate),  while  the  middle  distance  or 
background  will  require  the  lens  much  nearer 


Copvright[bjy  Douhltday,  Tage  &■  Co. 

A  film  exposed  in  the  frozen  North  tells  a  story  of  cold ;     the 

man  huddles  his  shoulders  and  keeps  his  hands  in  his 

pockets  —  each  action  telling  of  cold 


LANDSCAPES  77 

the  plate  to  be  in  sharp  focus.  In  the  chapter 
on  lenses  we  learned  that  we  can  correct  this  by 
stopping  down  our  lens,  but  this  Is  at  the  ex- 
pense of  speed.  If  we  use  our  swing  back  we 
throw  the  top  of  the  ground  glass  that  receives 
the  Image  of  the  foreground  farther  away  from 
the  lens,  while  the  bottom,  intercepting  the 
image  from  the  background,  is  pushed  nearer  to 
the  lens.  Thus  we  can  retain  our  speed  and  get 
"depth  of  focus"  at  the  same  time.  This  may 
sound  Involved  on  paper,  but  a  very  little  ex- 
perimenting with  your  camera  will  clear  up  the 
matter. 

TRIPOD. — We  should  see  that  the  tripod  is 
substantial.  A  camera  must  be  kept  steady, 
and  a  flimsy  stand  is  provocative  of  much  moral 
turpitude. 

GOING  AFIELD.— Now  let  us  go  afield 
with  our  apparatus.  We  have  with  us  camera, 
plate-holders  filled  with  color  sensitive  plates, 
lens,  ray  filter,  cap  for  lens,  shutter,  tripod, 
focusing  cloth,  actinometer,  note-book — and  a 
spirit  of  conquest. 

We  start  out  early  In  the  morning,  because 
the  low  sun  gives  long  shadows,  and  does  not 
flood  everything  with  an  even  Illumination,  sink- 
ing the  foreground  into  the  background,  and 
flattening  every  view.     Before  we  leave  the  vil- 


78       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

lage  we  pass  the  old  church,  with  its  spire  climb- 
ing into  the  sky.  We  have  learned  that  it  is 
not  well  to  get  directly  in  front  of  a  building 
so  that  a  line  drawn  down  the  middle  of  the 
plate  will  divide  the  picture  in  half,  for  this 
would  suggest  an  architectural  drawing  rather 
than  a  picture.  Therefore,  we  put  up  our  cam- 
era a  little  to  one  side,  choosing  which  side 
from  the  position  of  the  sun,  remembering  that 
it  is  better  to  have  the  light  come  from  one  side 
rather  than  from  directly  in  front  or  from 
behind. 

It  will,  perhaps,  add  to  the  interest  of  the 
foreground  if  we  select  such  a  spot  as  will  cause 
the  road  in  front  of  the  church  to  cross  a  corner 
of  the  plate  at  an  agreeable  angle.  This  will 
fill  up  a  gap,  and  give  a  near  horizontal  line 
to  relieve  the  many  perpendiculars  of  the  church 
and  spire.  The  camera  being  set  up,  we  find 
that  the  lens,  lifted  to  the  top  of  the  rising 
front,  will  not  take  in  the  whole  of  the  steeple, 
so  we  tip  the  camera  until  the  lightning  rod 
appears  on  the  ground  glass.  Then  we  use  the 
swing  back  to  make  the  glass  parallel  with  the 
building.  If  we  watch  the  image  on  the  glass, 
we  will  see  the  lines  of  the  church,  which  had 
converged  towards  the  top,  gradually  straighten 
out  until,  when  the  glass  is  perpendicular,  the 


LANDSCAPES  79 

lines,  too,  are  perpendicular.  We  will  not  se- 
lect the  right  spot  first,  but  after  a  few  trials 
we  will  find  the  one  which  is  best  adapted  to 
the  view.  It  is  scarcely  the  province  of  this 
chapter  to  go  into  the  matter  of  exposure,  for 
that  is  treated  in  the  tables. 

We  then  go  farther  down  the  road  until  we 
reach  a  turn.  The  road  swings  to  the  left,  the 
rail  fence  following,  while  on  the  right  stands 
a  single  tree.  Something  in  that  view  attracts. 
We  unlimber  our  outfit  and  study  the  scene  on 
the  ground  glass.  We  have  learned  not  to  put 
our  instrument  in  the  middle  of  the  road.  In 
this  instance  we  may  put  it  on  the  left-hand  side. 
Then  we  shall  probably  direct  it  so  that  the 
nearby  road  will  swing  part  way  across  the  plate 
before  the  curve  farther  off  sweeps  it  to  the  left 
and  off  the  plate.  This  will  fill  the  foreground 
and  give  balance  of  line. 

The  tree  then  occupies  the  unused  portion  of 
our  picture.  If  we  have  placed  our  camera  just 
right,  the  lines  of  the  road  will  converge  on 
that  tree  and  help  our  composition.  If  we  have 
treated  it  as  a  foreground  subject,  our  horizon 
line  should  be  about  two-thirds  of  the  distance 
from  the  bottom  of  the  plate;  if  we  decide  that 
the  tree  had  better  be  smaller,  and  the  whole 
scene  a  broader  one,  our  horizon  should  be  only 


8o      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

one-third  of  the  way  up  the  plate.  All  of  these 
things  we  must  remember  as  we  look  at  the 
ground  glass.  We  turn  the  camera  this  way 
and  that;  we  tip  it  up  and  we  tip  it  down;  we 
carry  it  nearer  the  tree  and  farther  from  it.  If 
we  feel  hurried,  and  think  that  we  have  not  time 
to  do  all  of  this,  we  may  compare  the  length 
of  time  now  used  on  the  subject  with  that  of 
the  life  of  the  picture,  IF  it  is  a  success.  A 
failure  is  a  waste  of  time  anyway,  and  the  mo- 
ments used  on  it  are  momients  thrown  away. 

One  big  advantage  the  camera  has  over  our 
eyes.  The  four  sides  of  the  plate  make  definite 
boundaries.  We  can  make  them  exclude  the 
objectionable,  the  unessential,  and  include  what 
is  necessary  to  the  picture.  On  our  sensitive 
plate  we  carry  home  the  vital  factors  of  the 
scene;  the  rest  is  left  behind. 

We  can  treat  the  subject  in  such  a  manner 
as  merely  to  represent  Nature,  with  due  regard 
to  the  general  laws  of  composition,  or  we  can 
treat  it  as  a  decorative  arrangement  of  line  or 
of  light  and  shade,  without  thinking  of  it  as  a 
definite  scene.  Remember  this,  for  some  day  it 
will  enable  you  to  keep  a  friend.  Suppose  he 
has  asked  you  to  take  a  picture  of  his  house, 
and  you  find  it  hopeless  in  its  want  of  the  pictur- 
esque.    You  can  scarcely  call  upon  your  lens 


LANDSCAPES  8i 

to  face  such  a  subject,  lacking  in  all  taste.  For- 
get that  it  is  a  picture  of  a  house,  but  get  some 
effect  of  light  and  shade,  put  a  figure  in  the  fore- 
ground, and  sink  the  house  into  mere  back- 
ground. Make  it  a  picture  of  your  friend's 
child,  and  he  will  bless  you  forever  more.  This 
can  be  so  managed  that  he  will  never  know  of 
the  deceit  which  you  have  practiced.  You  have 
saved  your  own  soul  and  a  friendship  at  the 
same  time. 

SKIES. — Skies  give  an  unlimited  opportu- 
nity for  making  striking  pictures.  Constable, 
the  English  painter,  is  quoted  as  saying:  "Cer- 
tainly, if  the  sky  is  obtrusive,  as  mine  are,  it  is 
bad;  but  if  it  is  evaded,  as  mine  are  not,  it  is 
worse." 

The  use  of  isochromatic  plates,  a  ray  filter 
and  underexposure  gives  us  opportunities  with 
clouds  that  the  average  worker  does  not  dream 
of.  The  bugaboo  of  poor  technical  work  holds 
back  those  who  know  enough  to  make  use  of 
it.  If  a  scene  is  hopelessly  flat  or  uninteresting, 
but  possesses  the  lines  adapted  to  make  a  fore- 
ground for  clouds,  and  any  clouds  are  to  be 
seen,  I  always  work  for  the  clouds  and  let  the 
rest  of  the  view  take  care  of  itself.  Constable 
seems  right. 

In   landscape   work,    put   in   practice    every 


82      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 


rule  of  composition  that  you  know,  and  be- 
yond this  try  to  keep  uppermost  the  sentiment 
of  the  scene.  Make  your  picture  tell  a  story, 
whether  it  is  of  the  quietness,  even  solemnity 
of  an  evening  subject,  or  the  joy  in  the  life 
of  a  child.  It  is  this  which  will  give  it  its  high- 
est value. 


Chapter  VIII 
FIGURE  WORK 

THE  vital  factor  in  figure  work  is  not  the 
subject  in  front  of  the  camera,  but  the 
man  behind  it.  It  is  vastly  more  im- 
portant that  he  have  an  appreciation  of  art  and 
a  keen  susceptibility  to  sentiment  than  that  he 
know  the  focus  of  his  lens,  the  speed  of  his 
plates  or  how  to  mix  his  developer.  We  must 
try  to  tell  a  story,  and  tell  it  simply  with  char- 
acteristic attitudes  and  surroundings.  It  is  im- 
portant that  we  know  our  tools,  but  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  them  will,  in  itself,  never  make  us 
more  than  good  workmen. 

Our  first  thought  should  be  to  express  the 
sentiment  that  is  kindled  within  us  by  the  scene. 
With  this  desire  we  will  naturally  study  the 
means  best  to  accomplish  it.  We  will  pick  up 
the  laws  of  composition  and  balance  of  line  and 
mass  because  we  need  them.  Exposure  and  de- 
velopment of  plates,  the  making  and  mounting 

83 


84       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

of  prints,  will  be  learned,  for  they  will  help  us 
to  express  ourselves.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
our  Interest  Is  In  the  technical  side  of  photog- 
raphy, we  may  use  all  the  time  there  is  in  pur- 
suit of  a  better  mechanical  product.  Or,  if  our 
efforts  are  directed  in  the  line  of  composition, 
we  may  spend  years  in  that  study  and  never  get 
over  the  threshold  of  artistic  creation. 

Instead  of  giving  tables  of  exposures  or  other 
technical  matters  in  this  chapter,  we  will  con- 
sider a  few  subjects  and  certain  characteristic 
figures  and  surroundings.  First,  I  must  speak 
of  Millet's  "Angelus,"  for  it  Is  the  Incarnation 
of  the  idea  that  I  am  trying  to  convey.  Study 
it  until  you  know  every  line  and  have  the  atti- 
tudes and  expressions  of  the  figures  engraved 
upon  your  mind.  Consider  the  "Sower"  by  the 
same  artist,  and  the  interior  genre  pictures  by 
Josef  Israel.  These  simple  stories  of  lowly  life 
grip  at  the  heartstrings.  And  how  are  they 
told?  By  one  figure,  two  figures,  three,  and 
surroundings  that  melt  into  the  nothingness  of 
deep  shadow.  No  lurid  telling  of  the  tale,  mere 
suggestlveness. 

To  apply  this  method  to  a  scene  available  to 
every  camera-user  in  a  big  city,  let  us  consider 
the  inhabitants  of  the  congested  quarters  of  the 
town.     If  you  were  about  to  photograph  the 


FIGURE    WORK  85 

people  of  Hester  Street,  perhaps  your  first  idea 
would  be  to  get  a  long-range  view  of  the  surg- 
ing masses  of  humanity,  to  have  every  available 
spot  on  your  plate  occupied  by  a  figure.  You 
have  looked  at  such  photographs,  in  the  news- 
papers, a  thousand  times.  Can  you  remember 
a  single  detail?  Did  one  ever  grip  you?  Hu- 
manity in  the  mass  is  a  subject  for  science,  for 
sociology;  the  individual  is  a  person  to  love,  to 
hate,  to  fear,  to  pity. 

I  am  never  so  lonely  as  in  a  crowd,  conse- 
quently it  is  the  loneliness  of  the  East  Side  in- 
dividual that  I  always  seek  to  picture.  Perhaps 
you  are  fond  of  society,  like  to  talk  and  to  meet 
people.  Then  you  and  I  would  seek  to  express 
different  phases  of  the  same  life.  I  would  pic- 
ture the  lonely  push-cart  vender  of  First  Ave- 
nue. The  pillar  of  the  elevated  railroad  struc- 
ture would  divide  my  plate  vertically,  the 
framework  of  it  would  give  a  horizontal  line 
across  the  top  of  the  plate.  The  owner  of  the 
cart  would  be  polishing  his  apples,  rearranging 
his  trinkets,  holding  out  a  sample  of  his  wares 
to  a  passerby.  His  shoulders  would  be  drawn 
forward  to  shut  out  a  little  of  the  cold.  He 
would  be  alone,  surroundings  would  fade  into 
the  gray  of  the  dirty  atmosphere.  If  the  vender 
were  a  woman,  her  shawl  would  be  held  tightly 


86       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

over  her  head  and  around  her  shoulders,  to 
keep  out  the  chill,  to  keep  away  the  crowd,  to 
give  her  privacy. 

You,  seeking  to  tell  the  other  side  of  the 
story,  would  go  up  to  Little  Italy,  where  there 
is  more  room  and  sun  and  the  people  are  light- 
hearted.  Here,  the  push-cart  venders  gossip 
between  sales.  Two  or  three  of  them  will 
gather  together  and  talk  with  their  hands, 
chatter  like  magpies,  make  and  ruin  the  repu- 
tations of  their  neighbors,  tell  spicy  bits  of 
news,  joke,  laugh  and  cry.  Christmas  time  of- 
fers opportunities  for  getting  at  the  heart  of 
the  child  of  the  poor.  Shop  windows  are  filled 
with  toys,  they  are  decorated  with  miniature 
trees  and  wreaths.  The  hungry  child,  scantily 
clad,  will  stop  before  it  and  every  line  of  its 
body  will  tell  the  story  of  longing. 

What  is  your  idea  of  the  life  of  a  Gloucester 
fisherman?  Is  it  conveyed  by  a  photograph 
that  was  published  not  long  ago  of  a  couple  of 
men  in  working  clothes,  handling  a  small  bas- 
ket of  fish?  Of  course,  this  photograph  was 
taken  on  shore,  but  that  does  not  excuse  it,  for 
Gloucester  fishermen  spend  much  time  ashore, 
and  every  earmark  of  their  calling  is  shown 
on  the  wharves  of  Gloucester.  Go  there  at 
the  right  season  and  you  will  find  oil-clad  fishers 


FIGURE    WORK  87 

lustily  hauling  great  baskets  of  frozen  fish  from 
the  holds  of  their  vessels  to  the  wharf.  Not 
daintily  lifting  a  lunch-basket  with  five  little 
fishes  in  it,  but  heaving  on  blocks  and  tackle, 
they  are  throwing  weight  and  strength  against 
heavy  baskets  to  bring  the  swinging  mass  onto 
the  wharf. 

Opportunities  for  composition  are  legion. 
Masts  and  wharves,  figures  and  ropes  give  ver- 
tical lines,  spars  and  booms,  arms  of  straining 
men  give  horizontal  ones.  Action  and  toil  ap- 
pear in  every  figure.  And  yet,  ninety-nine  out 
of  every  hundred  photographs  of  Gloucester 
fishermen  are  dainty,  ladylike  affairs,  taken  in 
the  warm  summer  sun,  with  every  figure  ob- 
viously posing  for  the  camera. 

Use  your  mind  before  you  waste  a  plate.  It 
is  too  late  afterwards.  If  you  were  asked  for 
your  idea  of  these  toilers  of  the  sea  you  would 
give  a  fairly  accurate  one,  yet  if  you  are  of  the 
ninety-nine  and  should  take  your  camera  to 
Gloucester,  you  would  bring  home  photographs 
that  would  be  a  libel  on  the  subjects  and  on 
your  own  intelligence.  It  is  not  easy,  this  get- 
ting hold  of  the  heart  of  the  thing,  but  it  must 
be  done  if  we  are  to  get  real  representations 
of  the  subjects. 

I  have  in  mind  some  photographs  which  I 


88       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

once  took  of  a  noted  negro  teacher.  He  is  one 
of  the  great  men  of  the  times  and  yet, — his  face 
is  of  an  ordinary  type.  I  had  to  get  the  pic- 
tures, but  I  didn't  know  how  in  the  world  to 
do  it.  So  I  tried  two  radically  differing 
methods, — one  the  conventional,  of  a  well- 
dressed  man  in  his  well-appointed  office.  Desk, 
chair,  ink-well,  bowl  of  flowers,  telephone,  sec- 
retary, all  served  to  distract  the  attention  and 
to  put  the  photograph  in  the  class  of  mechan- 
ical, processed  attempts. 

For  the  other,  I  pushed  the  camera  so  close 
to  the  subject  that  his  head  occupied  the  whole 
plate.  The  man's  story  was  told  by  the  expres- 
sion of  his  eye  and  his  forehead.  The  history 
of  his  race,  his  own  fight  for  it,  the  burdens  and 
sorrows  that  had  been  laid  upon  his  shoulders 
appeared  in  those  features.  Most  of  this  I 
discovered  afterwards,  in  the  print,  but  I  hardly 
looked  on  the  ground  glass  because  I  was  so 
taken  up  with  trying  to  follow  the  well-trodden 
path  of  getting  a  photograph  of  an  expression- 
less gentleman  in  his  office. 

IMMIGRANTS.— The  immigrants  at  Ellis 
Island  are  entering  a  promised  land.  In  many 
cases  they  have  left  behind  them  a  past  of  op- 
pression and  timidity  and  are  entering  the  por- 
tals of  a  new  life.     The  future  is  viewed  with 


FIGURE    WORK  89 

faith  and  hope, — yet  they  are  still  afraid.  This 
cannot  be  portrayed  by  the  photograph  of  a 
deckload  of  them,  and  yet  the  usual  camera- 
user  never  thinks  of  attempting  any  other  view. 
The  story  can  be  told  in  the  expression  of  the  in- 
dividual. So,  too,  can  be  depicted  the  tragedy 
of  the  deported  unfit. 

A  LAMB. — The  pleasure  of  being  a  Iamb  is 
not  as  well  illustrated  by  a  photograph  of  a 
field  full  of  them  as  it  is  by  a  picture  of  the 
happy  wiggle  of  one  little  tail.  Just  to  see  the 
soft,  woolly  creature  so  near  at  hand  is  to  wish 
to  be  Mary. 

A  BIRD  ROOKERY.— A  small-scale  photo- 
graph of  a  bird  rookery  is  necessary  to  convey 
the  idea  of  the  number  of  nests  in  it,  but  the 
picture  that  we  care  to  see  more  than  once  is 
of  an  old  bird  sitting  on  her  nest,  or  a  single 
family  of  youngsters  lustily  begging  for  food. 
We  wonder  if  the  mother  bird  is  calculating 
the  number  of  worms  or  frogs  that  her  off- 
spring will  demand  before  they  leave  the  nest. 
We  wonder  if  the  father  bird  does  his  duty  as 
provider.  The  many  details  of  bird  house- 
keeping are  brought  to  mind. 

HORSE  PORTRAITS.— If  you  are  a  buyer 
of  horses  you  will  wish  to  see  that  animal  pic- 
tured in  such  a  manner  as  best  to  show  his 


90      OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

points.  Length  of  leg,  build  of  body,  weight, 
carriage  of  head,  gait,  are  all  more  important 
to  you  than  the  thoughts  of  the  creature.  But 
if  we  are  using  a  camera  we  care  more  about 
the  language  of  the  ears  and  the  expression  of 
his  eyes.  Is  he  reaching  over  the  fence,  with 
ears  stretched  forward,  looking  beyond  us? 
Our  curiosity  is  excited.  Is  it  a  child  with  a 
handful  of  clover,  a  pretty  girl  with  a  lump  of 
sugar  or  a  stableman  with  a  fresh  parsnip  that 
he  sees?  He  thinks  it  is  good,  we  may  be  sure, 
from  the  anticipatory  quiver  of  those  sensitive 
ears.  Remember,  we  are  talking  about  figure 
work  and  not  landscape.  It  is  a  study  of  the 
animal  and  not  his  surroundings.  A  single 
horse,  or  a  group  of  them,  in  a  field,  is  a  land- 
scape study.  Yet  the  dividing  line  between  the 
two  is  a  movable  one  and  not  always  easily 
discernible. 

ARIZONA  PLAINS.— The  plains  of  Ari- 
zona are  wastes  of  sand,  dotted  here  and  there 
by  tufts  of  sage  brush.  The  pony  of  that  land, 
unharnessed,  is  a  wild,  untamed  little  brute; 
saddled,  but  unmounted,  he  is  the  personifica- 
tion of  sleepy  laziness.  If  the  Indian  rider 
powwows  at  the  store  or  in  the  hogan  of  an- 
other aborigine,  he  throws  the  bridle  rein  over 
the  beast's  head  and  leaves  it.     Thereupon  the 


FIGURE    WORK  91 

creature  goes  to  sleep,  tail  and  head  hanging 
limp,  apparently  without  an  evil  thought  in  its 
small  head.  Here  is  our  chance  to  tell  the  lo- 
cality and  life  of  man  and  beast  with  the  sim- 
plest elements.  A  background  of  sand,  punc- 
tuated by  a  single  tuft  of  sage  brush,  a  pony 
asleep  with  reins  thrown  over  its  head.  The 
background  melts  into  the  distance,  the  Indian 
is  suggested  by  the  waiting  pony,  and  the  whole 
free,  wild  life  of  the  plains  is  vividly  brought 
to  the  mind  of  him  who  has  once  seen  it  by  the 
mere  suggestiveness  of  these  simple  features. 
Another  story  may  be  told  by  picturing  the 
dash  of  the  galloping  steed  or  by  the  swinging 
of  the  lasso.  Sleep  or  action,  both  are  typical 
of  the  place  and  both  tell  the  story. 

Through  these  several  illustrations  I  have 
tried  to  impress  what  was  stated  early  in  the 
chapter, — that  through  our  picture  we  must 
seek  to  convey  the  sentiment  that  the  subject  has 
stirred  within  us. 


Chapter  IX 
SPEED  PHOTOGRAPHY 

AHORSE  trotting,  I  shall  here  speak  ol 
as  a  subject  for  speed  photography, 
while  a  trotting  horse,  standing  for  hi* 
picture,  has  been  referred  to  in  the  chapter  or 
Figure  Work.  It  is  the  action  of  the  subject 
rather  than  its  character  that  we  may  now  con^ 
sider,  although  it  occasionally  happens  that  w( 
give  a  comparatively  long  exposure  to  an  animal 
in  action. 

For  success  in  this  work  it  is  essential  that 
we  have  a  reflecting  camera.  We  must  have  the 
fast-working  focal  plane  shutter,  the  ground 
glass  in  readiness  for  use,  while  the  camera 
must  be  held  in  the  hand.  The  actual  speed 
of  the  ordinary  shutter  is  probably  rarely  faster 
than  one  one-hundredth  of  a  second,  while  that 
of  the  small,  cheap  camera  is  very  likely  to  be 
only  one  twenty-fifth.  Speed  work  requires  ex- 
posures of  from  a  hundredth  to  a  thousandth 
of  a  second. 


SPEED    PHOTOGRAPHY  93 

FOCAL  PLANE  SHUTTERS.— Imagine 

a  window  shade  twice  the  usual  length  and 
mounted  on  a  roller  top  and  bottom.  In  the 
middle  of  the  shade  is  a  slit,  say  one  foot  wide. 
When  the  spring  is  released  the  shade  flies 
across  the  window  and  the  slit  allows  the  pass- 
age of  light  for  a  brief  instant  through  each 
part  of  the  window,  from  bottom  to  top.  If 
the  slit  is  one  foot  wide,  the  window  six  feet 
long,  and  the  shade  takes  one  second  to  cross 
the  window,  it  is  apparent  that  light  is  allowed 
to  enter  for  one-sixth  of  a  second  through  each 
section  of  the  window.  By  cutting  down  the 
width  of  the  slit  to  one  inch,  we  divide  the  ex- 
posure by  twelve.  By  winding  up  the  spring 
of  the  roller  until  it  takes  the  shade  one-tenth 
of  a  second  to  cross  the  six  feet,  we  shorten  the 
exposure  in  that  ratio.  Thus,  with  the  inch 
slit  and  the  spring  wound  up  we  would  have  an 
exposure  of  one  one-hundred-and-twentieth  of 
a  second. 

This  is  the  principle  of  the  focal  plane  shut- 
ter. The  curtain  works  directly  in  front  of 
and  close  to  the  plate.  It  protects  the  sensitive 
film  before  and  after  exposure  and  during  ex- 
posure gives  to  each  part  an  equal  amount  of 
light.  With  this  shutter  it  is  possible  to  make 
exposures  of  one  fifteen-hundredth  of  a  second. 


94       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

It  has  one  theoretical  fault.  The  different  parts 
of  the  plate  are  not  exposed  at  the  same  time, 
and  this  should  produce  distortion  in  the  image. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  practice  it  is  not  notice- 
able. 

USING  A  REFLECTING  CAMERA.— 
In  the  chapter  on  cameras  we  have  stated  that 
a  reflecting  camera  contains  a  mirror  which  re- 
flects the  image  to  a  ground  glass  in  the  top  of 
the  box.  On  this  glass  we  may  watch  the  sub- 
ject up  to  the  moment  of  exposure.  The  plate 
holder  occupies  the  usual  position  at  the  back 
of  the  box.  Thus,  when  our  camera  is  ready 
for  action,  the  plate  is  in  the  holder  with  slide 
drawn. 

The  curtain  of  the  focal  plane  shutter  is 
wound  up  on  one  roller,  the  spring  on  the  other 
set  at  the  tension  required  and  the  slit  in  the 
curtain  of  such  a  width  as  to  give  the  exposure 
which  we  have  decided  upon.  The  pressure  of 
a  thumb  on  the  knob  will  throw  the  mirror  up, 
cover  the  ground  glass,  release  the  spring  of 
the  shutter  and  our  exposure  will  be  made. 
Hence,  having  drawn  the  slide  and  set  the  shut- 
ter, we  have  only  to  watch  the  ground  glass, 
keep  the  subject  in  focus  and  in  its  proper  po- 
sition on  the  plate  until  we  decide  that  the  in- 
stant has  come  to  capture  its  photograph. 


SPEED    PHOTOGRAPHY  95 

GRAFLEX  vs.  REFLEX.— In  passing,  it 
may  be  well  to  say  that  on  the  Graflex  camera 
the  focusing  screw  is  on  the  right  hand  and  the 
exposure  knob  on  the  left  side  of  the  box,  while 
on  the  Reflex  the  reverse  is  true.  This  may 
seem  a  minor  point,  but  it  often  spells  success 
or  failure,  for  if  one  hand  has  learned  to  manip- 
ulate the  focusing  screw  and  the  other  to  press 
the  exposure  knob  on  instantaneous  orders  from 
the  brain,  it  is  not  easy  for  them  to  exchange 
work.  The  point  of  this  observation  is, — don't 
change  your  instrument.  Both  are  good  ma- 
chines. 

MAKING  AN  EXPOSURE.— Rising  from 
the  top  of  the  camera,  over  the  ground  glass, 
is  a  hood  to  shield  the  eyes  from  outside 
light.  This  is  held  in  position  by  springs  and 
closes  down  inside  the  box  when  not  in  use. 
The  instrument  may  be  carried  with  shutter 
set,  slide  drawn  and  box  closed.  Touching  a 
single  spring  releases  the  top,  which  flies  up, 
carrying  the  focusing  hood  into  position  and 
causes  the  small  door  protecting  the  lens  to  fly 
open.  Thus  the  operator  has  only  to  put  his 
eyes  to  the  hood,  screw  forward  the  lens  to  the 
proper  focus  and  press  the  knob,  to  make  an 
exposure.     It  is  almost  done  with  one  motion. 


96       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

TO  FIND  THE  TIME  REQUIRED.— 

In  practice,  to  find  the  time  of  exposure  re- 
quired by  various  subjects,  the  easiest  way  is 
to  consult  the  tables.  These  will  need  con- 
siderable revision  if  we  seek  extreme  sharp- 
ness, but  this  quality  is  neither  necessary  nor 
desirable.  To  illustrate  the  method  of  obtain- 
ing these  results  and  the  actual  speed  needed 
to  cut  out  perceptible  motion  we  will  take  the 
case  of  a  boy  running  eight  miles  an  hour,  at 
right  angles  to  the  camera  and  fifty  feet  distant 
from  it. 

The  eye  will  recognize  a  movement  of  more 
than  i/ioo  of  an  inch  on  the  plate.  A  six-inch 
lens,  focused  on  an  object  fifty  feet  away,  gives 
an  image  on  the  ground  glass  of  i/ioo  the  size 
of  the  original.  Therefore,  if  we  give  an  ex- 
posure of  one  second,  the  object  must  not  be 
moving  faster  than  one  inch  in  that  time  if  it 
is  to  show  on  the  plate  without  apparent  blur- 
ring. But  a  boy  running  at  eight  miles  an  hour 
travels  140  Inches  in  a  second,  so  the  exposure 
must  be  1/140  of  a  second.  If  we  use  a  twelve- 
inch  lens  the  image  will  be  twice  the  size  of  that 
with  a  six-inch,  and  therefore  the  time  must  be 
only  half,  or  if  the  subject  is  only  twenty-five 
feet  away  the  image  then,  too,  will  be  twice  the 
size. 


SPEED    PHOTOGRAPHY  97 

But,  as  I  said  at  the  beginning  of  this  para- 
graph, we  do  not  need  extreme  sharpness.  The 
Idea  of  action  and  motion  is  better  conveyed 
by  a  certain  amount  of  blur.  Unless  there  be 
dust  or  flying  veils  to  give  the  effect  of  fast 
traveling,  a  sharp  picture  of  a  speeding  auto- 
mobile would  look  exactly  like  one  taken  of  it 
at  rest.  A  photograph  of  a  flying  bird  should 
show  fuzzy  tips  to  the  wings;  of  a  leaping 
fish,  blurring  around  the  tail,  to  convey  the  idea 
of  wiggle  to  that  member. 

As  a  subject  of  this  chapter,  "speed"  and 
"sport"  are  almost  interchangeable  terms,  and 
the  successful  photographer  of  speed  subjects 
must  be  a  sportsman.  He  must  be  indefatigable 
on  the  trail,  imbued  with  the  enthusiasm  that 
carries  him  over  difficulties  and  be  imperturb- 
able in  sight  of  the  quarry.  He  must  know 
when  to  take  his  picture  and  aim  without  con- 
sciousness of  using  the  sights  of  his  weapon. 
But  these  are  the  heritage  of  most  men  who 
will  venture  into  the  field  of  sporting  photog- 
raphy and  need  but  be  developed. 

KEEPING  THE  EYES  OFF  THE 
GROUND  GLASS.— Whenever  it  is  possible 
to  do  so,  avoid  looking  on  the  ground  glass, 
and  keep  the  eye  on  the  subject  as  it  approaches. 
It  is  necessary  to  see  what  is  about  to  happen 


98       OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

as  well  as  what  is  happening,  for  it  takes  an 
appreciable  time  for  the  order  of  the  brain  to 
be  obeyed  by  the  hand,  and  in  that  fraction  of 
a  second  the  cream  of  the  action  may  have  come 
and  gone. 

Often  we  can  do  the  focusing  first,  at  leisure, 
and  watch  the  subject  without  keeping  our  eyes 
glued  to  the  hood.  For  instance,  if  we  are 
photographing  a  trotting  horse,  we  know  al- 
most exactly  where  he  will  pass  us.  We  can 
select  the  spot  where  we  think  it  is  desirable 
for  the  horse  to  be  when  we  make  the  exposure 
and  focus  the  camera  on  that  spot.  With 
our  eyes  then  free  to  watch  the  coming  of  the 
animal,  we  wait  for  him  to  reach  the  site  of 
our  picture-taking.  In  this  way  we  have  time 
to  study  the  background  and  surroundings  on 
the  ground  glass  before  we  strain  every  faculty 
to  catch  the  flying  subject.  So  essential  do  I 
deem  this  freedom  of  vision  that  I  never  watch 
a  leaping  fish  on  the  ground  glass,  but  trust  to 
a  scale  and  judging  the  distance. 

One  can  often  have  several  spots  ready  fo- 
cused, know  the  exact  distance  of  each  from  the 
camera,  and  then  watch  the  subject.  A  grid- 
iron may  be  so  studied,  and  the  photographer 
be  left  free  to  watch  the  ball  and  the  players 
and  yet  keep  his  camera  in  focus  without  look- 


SPEED    PHOTOGRAPHY  99 

ing  at  the  ground  glass  while  things  are  hap- 
pening. Do  not  understand  this  as  suggesting 
the  use  of  the  scale  camera  rather  than  the  re- 
flecting instrument,  it  is  really  a  combination  of 
the  two.  Use  the  reflecting  ground  glass  to  do 
the  focusing  before  the  action  begins.  Study 
the  various  likely  points  and  know  just  how  far 
off  is  each  one  of  them,  and  then  watch  the 
game.  There  Is  no  guesswork  in  this, — you 
know  the  distance.  Of  course,  every  time  that 
you  move,  the  thing  must  be  done  all  over  again, 
and  likewise,  of  course,  you  must  have  a  scale 
on  your  reflecting  camera  as  well  as  the  ground 
glass.  This  scale  is  described  in  a  later  chapter. 
ACCURACY  OF  TIMING.— Occasionally 
accuracy  of  timing  the  exposure  is  as  important 
as  aim  or  speed.  For  instance,  if  you  wish  to 
take  the  smoke  issuing  from  the  muzzle  of  a 
gun,  the  shutter  must  act  within  a  very  small 
fraction  of  a  second  of  the  right  time,  or  a 
complete  failure  will  result.  If  the  plate  is 
exposed  too  soon,  you  will  merely  have  a  pic- 
ture of  a  man  holding  a  gun;  if  it  is  too  late, 
the  smoke  will  be  some  distance  from  the  muz- 
zle, and  the  barrel,  thrown  up  out  of  line  by 
the  recoil,  will  produce  a  ludicrous  effect.  One 
of  my  most  successful  shots  of  this  kind  shows 
the  smoke  issuing  from  the  muzzle,  the  wad 


loo     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

striking  the  water,  and  the  alligator's  head  on 
the  surface  of  the  pool  a  little  to  one  side  of 
the  wad. 

GROUPING  OF  SUBJECTS.— Some  sub- 
jects are  dependent  on  arrangement  as  well  as 
action,  and  this  must  be  watched  for  on  the 
ground  glass.  Children  playing  will  group 
themselves  while  running  across  the  field  of  the 
plate,  and  to  catch  this  just  as  we  want  it,  we 
must  see  it  on  the  ground  glass.  For  it  is  a 
matter  of  arrangement,  size  and  location  on  the 
plate,  as  well  as  action,  that  must  be  watched. 

WHEN  THE  LIGHT  IS  POOR.— In  the 
matter  of  wild  game,  it  will  often  happen  that 
the  subjects  are  in  woods  or  ravines  where  the 
light  is  of  the  worst.  A  certain  exposure  must 
be  given  or  we  will  get  no  image  on  the  plate. 
This  will  probably  be  many  times  the  length  of 
exposure  that  the  action  of  the  subject  will  al- 
low. We  can  only  wait  for  the  instant  when 
the  motion  is  comparatively  slow  and  trust  to 
catch  an  arrested  action  picture. 

It  is  sometimes  possible  to  get  figures  out- 
lined against  the  sky  and  thus  get  silhouettes 
when  the  light  is  too  poor  to  get  any  other  form 
of  picture.  Years  ago,  at  Albuquerque,  I  used 
this  scheme  to  get  some  photographs  of  buck- 
ing bronchos,  after  the  sun  had  set.    There  was 


SPEED    PHOTOGRAPHY         loi 

nothing  else  to  do, — the  ponies  were  going 
through  the  most  spectacular  stunts,  the  light 
had  failed,  but  I  had  a  lot  of  unused  plates. 
The  results  surprised  me  so  pleasantly  that  since 
that  day  I  have  used  plenty  of  plates  on  what 
seemed  like  forlorn  hopes. 

And  now  a  word  or  two  of  general  advice: 
K^ep  the  subject  of  the  picture  as  simple  as 
possible;  have  few  figures,  but  make  them  tell 
something, — a  story  of  action,  desire,  striving. 

Keep  the  surroundings  in  the  background; 
don't  let  them  distract  the  attention  or  interfere 
with  the  outlines  of  the  subject.  The  figures 
must  stand  out  and  this  is  difficult  to  attain  with 
rapid  exposures.  If  you  have  the  figures  in 
front  of  an  open  expanse  of  sand,  sky,  marsh 
or  plain,  so  much  the  better.  Another  way  is 
to  have  the  figure  near  at  hand,  then  the  dif- 
fusion of  focus  will  throw  the  background  into 
misty  vagueness. 

Have  the  figures  as  large  as  possible  on  the 
plate,  for  perspective  and  size  will  make  the 
difference  between  good  and  bad. 

Under-expose  as  little  as  possible,  run  the 
risk  of  a  good  deal  of  blurring  rather  than  a 
plate  with  faint  outlines  of  a  picture. 

Pursue  your  own  bent.  If  you  are  a  natural- 
ist, try  to  get  pictures  from  this  point  of  view. 


102     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 


but  if  your  interests  are  artistic,  photograph 
wild  life  for  pictorial  effect.  It  is  what  you 
will  do  eventually  and  you  will  save  time  if  you 
frankly  do  so  from  the  first. 


Chapter  X 
PICTURING  THE  LEAPING  TARPON 

THERE  is  danger  in  picturing  the  tarpon, 
the  danger  of  not  finding  him.  It  will 
take  patience,  more  than  you  realize,  to 
get  the  opportunity.  Tarpon  are  not  caught 
by  every  fisherman  that  goes  for  them.  Men 
have  gone  to  Florida,  year  after  year,  and  spent 
fortunes  hunting  them,  without  getting  one. 
Now,  you  must  not  alone  catch  them,  or  have 
them  caught,  but  it  must  be  under  conditions 
permitting  the  use  of  your  camera. 

If  you  try  to  manage  both  rod  and  camera 
yourself,  by  the  time  you  are  ready  with  the 
latter  you  will  need  a  telescope  to  see  the  tar- 
pon. If  your  friend  attends  to  the  rod  or  line 
and  your  fisherman  manages  th-e  boat,  even  then 
not  every  jump  of  the  fish  will  give  your  camera 
a  chance.  Indeed,  this  will  happen  so  seldom 
that  you  cannot  afford  to  lose  it  when  the  chance 
does  come,  but  must  always  be  ready  for  it. 
103 


104     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

That  is  really  the  most  Important  thing  about 
this  work, — to  be  ready,  always  and  eternally 
ready  for  the  leap,  and  to  get  it.  You  cannot 
afford  to  be  startled — until  afterwards.  Ex- 
pose the  plate  first  and  then  be  as  startled  as  you 
like.  I  have  had  them  jump  so  near  that  I 
expected  them  to  land  in  the  boat,  if  not  on  me, 
but  I  never  had  time  to  allow  this  thought  to 
affect  me  until  the  shutter  had  been  snapped 
and  the  exposure  made.  My  boatman  has  even 
shouted  to  me  to  jump  out  of  the  way,  so  cer- 
tain did  it  seem  that  the  creature  was  going  to 
hit  me  on  its  return  to  the  water,  but  my  job 
was  first  to  expose  that  plate. 

APPARATUS.  —  Several  devices  have 
seemed  necessary,  but,  with  one  exception,  I 
have  discarded  them  and  done  better  work 
without  their  aid.  The  one  necessary  adjunct 
is  a  focusing  scale  that  works  by  sense  of  touch, 
for  you  have  no  time  to  hunt  up  the  ordinary 
scale  of  figures,  nor  have  you  time  to  find  the 
image  on  the  ground  glass.  Your  eyes  must 
be  kept  on  the  fish,  on  the  water,  on  the  line, 
on  the  background — everywhere  except  hidden 
in  the  hood  of  the  ground  glass. 

My  focusing  scale  is  much  like  the  face  of  a 
clock,  with  the  knob  of  the  screw  projecting 
through  the  center.     From  this  knob  projects 


THE    LEAPING    TARPON        105 

a  small  pointer,  like  the  minute  hand  of  the 
timepiece.  Each  focal  distance  is  marked  in 
raised  figures,  which  I  feel  with  my  forefinger. 
Thus,  without  looking  at  the  scale,  I  can  tell 
at  what  distance  the  lens  is  set  and  can  shift  it 
to  any  other  by  a  motion  of  the  thumb  and 
finger  that  hold  the  knob.  After  practice  this 
can  be  done  almost  automatically.  Frequently 
I  have  focused  and  made  an  exposure  without 
the  consciousness  of  having  even  judged  the 
distance  of  the  fish  from  the  camera. 

As  for  marksmanship,  that  is  a  matter  of 
inheritance  and  practice.  I  never  found  sights 
other  than  a  nuisance.  There  is  not  time  to 
find  them  nor  to  use  them,  and  they  enforce  an 
impossible  attitude  ■  with  a  heavy  camera.  I 
simply  hold  my  camera  against  my  chest  and 
know  when  it  is  held  true.  For  the  quick  and 
accurate  centering  of  any  object  on  the  plate  I 
probably  have  to  thank  my  ancestors  of  hunting 
prowess. 

CAMERA. — But  to  go  back.  You  will  take 
a  reflecting  form  of  camera  and  equip  it  with 
a  sense-of-touch  focusing  scale,  otherwise  make 
no  change  in  it.  The  reflecting  camera  is  neces- 
sary because  the  focal  plane-shutter  must  be 
used  and  the  slide  of  the  plate-holder  drawn, 
ready  for  use. 


io6     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

No  focal  plane  curtain  in  existence  will  pro- 
tect the  plate  during  the  long  hours  of  waiting 
in  the  strong  light  of  Florida;  you  must  have 
the  added  protection  of  the  mirror.  This  is 
apart  from  the  fact  that  you  often  want  to 
study  your  backgrounds  and  verify  your  guesses 
at  distance  by  looking  at  the  ground  glass.  It 
is  well  to  have  waterproof  cases  for  camera  and 
plate-holders,  for  this  pursuit  of  the  tarpon  will 
take  you  out  in  all  sorts  of  weather  and  carry 
you  to  rough  places. 

PLATES  AND  EXPOSURE.— In  plates, 
my  preference  is  for  Isochromatic  of  medium 
speed.  The  light  on  the  water  is  so  strong  that 
I  prefer  the  better  quality  of  these  slower  emul- 
sions to  the  added  speed  of  the  faster  ones.  I 
have  had  better  results  from  longer  exposures 
than  from  the  very  rapid  ones,  and  I  usually 
set  my  shutter  for  about  a  two-hundred-and- 
fiftieth  of  a  second.  Sometimes  the  lens  is 
stopped  down,  but  generally  it  is  left  wide  open. 

TACTICS. — The  easiest  way  to  catch  the 
jumps  is  to  have  the  camera  in  the  same  boat 
with  the  fisherman.  Holding  the  camera  on 
your  knees,  you  sit  in  the  stern  of  the  boat,  fac- 
ing aft.  The  fisherman  sits  just  behind  you, 
with  the  line  passing  by  your  side  and  over  the 
stern.     This  line  is  marked  with  bits  of  ribbon. 


THE    LEAPING    TARPON        107 

Fifteen  feet  should  be  designated  by  a  white 
ribbon,  twenty-five  by  red,  thirty-five  by  blue, 
fifty  by  a  bit  of  green.  Thus,  by  merely  glanc- 
ing at  the  line  by  your  side,  you  can  tell  just  how 
far  away  the  hook  Is,  and  have  your  camera 
ready  focused  for  that  distance.  If  a  fish 
strikes  the  hook  and  Immediately  jumps,  all  that 
you  have  to  think  of  Is  to  have  the  Instrument 
aimed  correctly  and  to  press  the  exposure  knob 
at  the  right  Instant.  If  the  fish  darts  towards 
the  boat  or  jumps  directly  at  you,  some  allow- 
ance must  be  made,  but  the  hand  quickly  be- 
comes accustomed  to  this  work,  and  will  change 
the  focus  without  conscious  orders  from  the 
mind. 

A  skilful  fisherman  will  play  the  creature 
lightly  while  you  are  changing  plate-holders  and 
reserve  the  harder  tugs  for  the  times  when  you 
are  ready  to  make  an  exposure.  He  will  try 
to  keep  the  fish  near  at  hand  and  will  give  or- 
ders to  the  boatman  to  pull  ahead  or  back  the 
boat,  as  seems  necessary  to  keep  the  quarry  at 
the  proper  distance.  You  will  have  suggested 
to  them  both  which  light  you  would  rather  have 
In  the  case  of  a  fish  striking  the  hook.  This 
you  must  do  before  the  game  begins,  as  well  as 
having  seen  and  studied  every  background  on 
the  horizon,  so  as  to  be  ready  to  take  advan- 


io8     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

tage  of  every  aid  that  is  offered  for  a  better 
result. 

Sometimes  you  will  want  to  keep  the  camera 
near  the  surface  of  the  water  to  add  to  the  ap- 
parent height  of  the  jump,  sometimes  reverse 
this  process  and  stand  up  in  the  boat.  The  lat- 
ter must  be  done  if  the  water  is  rough  enough 
to  make  the  intervening  waves  interfere  with 
the  view  of  the  fish.  By  the  time  that  you  have 
stood  for  half  an  hour  in  an  uneasy  skiff,  hold- 
ing a  heavy  camera,  you  will  have  a  pain  in  the 
small  of  your  back  that  will  make  you  forget 
all  temporal  woes  and  joys.  You  will  then  sit 
down  and  let  the  fish  go  hang. 

But  this  method  of  photographing  the  jumps 
will  give  you  only  a  picture  of  the  fish  and  none 
of  the  fisherman.  It  is  the  simplest  and  surest, 
but  lacks  that  vital  feature, — the  human  inter- 
est. For  the  other  work,  you  must  have  a  small 
motor-boat  with  which  to  follow  the  fisherman 
in  his  canoe.  Your  boatman  must  be  instructed 
beforehand  concerning  the  distance  to  keep 
from  the  fisherman, — be  that  twenty-five,  fifty, 
or  a  greater  number  of  feet.  He  must  be  told 
that  you  prefer  to  have  the  sun  behind  you,  at 
your  side,  or  in  front  of  you,  as  the  case  may  be. 
He  must  know  that  it  is  important  to  have  the 
fish  jump  slightly  nearer  to  you  than  is  the  canoe 


THE    LEAPING    TARPON        109 

with  the  fisherman,  so  that  the  foreshortening 
of  the  lens  may  work  to  your  advantage  rather 
than  against  you.  You  must  tell  him  that  the 
palmetto  tree  on  the  bank  will  make  a  good 
background,  and  that  it  is  desirable  to  get  it 
behind  the  fish. 

The  fisherman  and  his  boatman  must  be 
taught  that  it  is  essential  to  keep  the  fish  near 
the  canoe,  for  your  lens  will  take  in  a  very 
limited  angle  of  view,  and  to  get  them  both 
on  the  plate  necessitates  that  they  be  very  near 
together.  The  fisherman  must  know  that  he  is 
handling  the  fish  for  the  sake  of  the  camera 
and  that  one  jump  with  everything  just  right  is 
more  to  be  desired  than  the  landing  of  twenty 
of  the  beautiful  creatures. 

This  is  really  much  simpler  than  it  sounds, 
for  the  work  is  divided  up  and  each  man  does 
his  part.  The  fisherman  plays  the  fish  for  the 
camera,  the  canoeman  keeps  the  canoe  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  fish  and  near  to  him,  while 
your  own  boatman  keeps  the  boat  at  the  proper 
distance  and  with  the  sun  in  its  proper  position. 
That  is,  these  things  are  done  as  nearly  as  may 
be.  The  fish  seldom  allows  all  of  them  at  the 
same  time  and  frequently  will  not  permit  any  of 
them.  Moreover,  the  first  jump  is  usually  the 
highest,  the  one  that  comes  with  least  warning 


no     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

and  the  most  uncontrollable.  The  best  oppor- 
tunities come  at  the  hardest  times.  Sometimes 
the  most  startling  jumps  are  those  made  in  nar- 
row rivers,  under  overhanging  trees,  where  the 
lack  of  light  makes  photographic  work  impos- 
sible. I  have  caught  fish  by  moonlight  when 
magnesium  would  have  been  needed  to  supply 
light  for  camera  work. 

I  once  saw  a  tarpon  jump  high  into  the  air, 
his  burnished  silver  side  glistening  in  full  sun- 
shine, while  behind  him,  and  within  one  hun- 
dred yards,  a  solid  mass  of  rain  was  falling  in 
the  darkness  of  black  clouds.  It  was  unearthly, 
indescribable,  but  wonderfully  beautiful,  and  I 
shall  always  think  that  I  have  failed  to  get  my 
ideal  jump  picture  because  of  that  one  sight 
when  my  camera  was  put  away  in  its  water- 
proof case. 

DON'TS. — If  you  wish  to  photograph  the 
leap  of  the  tarpon: 

Don't  think  that  an  ordinary  camera  will 
do, — use  a  reflecting  form  with  a  sense-of-touch 
focusing  scale. 

Don't  use  too  high  speed, — ^you  sacrifice  too 
much  quality  in  the  negative. 

Don't  lose  your  head  when  the  fish  jumps — 
expose  the  plate  first  and  then  be  scared  as  you 
like. 


THE    LEAPING    TARPON        iii 

Don't  let  your  boatman  make  you  think  that 
nobody  uses  a  hand  line, — he  simply  doesn't 
know. 

Don't  let  your  friend  forget  that  he  is  fishing 
for  the  camera — a  picture  of  a  jump  is  worth 
twenty  dead  tarpon. 

Don't  forget  your  stock  of  patience — you  will 
need  it  all  and  had  better  borrow  a  lot  from 
the  folks  at  home. 


Chapter  XI 
SEA  PICTURES 

THE  changing  moods  of  the  sea  present  a 
veritable  mine  to  the  camera  worker. 
He  can  preempt  a  square  yard  of  shore 
and  from  this  vantage  point  obtain  pictures  of 
storm  and  stress,  sunsets  and  solemnity,  child- 
ish joys  or  the  perils  of  fisher  folk.  Sea  and 
sky,  foreground  and  background,  will  work  to- 
gether for  him,  and  he  needs  but  the  patience 
to  await  and  the  perception  to  grasp  oppor- 
tunities as  they  appear.  He  can  get  yet  differ- 
ent aspects  from  long  piers  which  thrust  them- 
selves out  into  the  sea,  while  the  view  from  the 
deck  of  a  steamer  will  be  an  unending  pan- 
orama. 

A  central  idea  is  essential.  Some  one  fea- 
ture must  predominate.  Do  not  let  sea  and 
sky  clash,  for  one  must  subordinate  the  other. 
Arrange  them  so  that  the  picture  will  have  unity 


SEA    PICTURES  113 

of  idea  and  composition.  It  may  be  a  study  of 
the  single  wave  or  the  action  of  waves.  The 
one  is  pictured  by  the  individual,  the  other  by 
a  group.  In  the  print,  staring  white  of  clear 
sky  should  be  toned  down  by  unobtrusive  clouds. 
Either  an  unbroken  expanse  of  white  or  spec- 
tacular clouds  would  draw  attention  from  the 
waves  which  supply  the  motif  of  the  picture. 

The  unceasing  undulations  of  the  ocean,  ex- 
tending as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  present 
another  aspect  of  the  sea.  Repetition,  wave  fol- 
lowing wave,  is  the  keynote  to  successful  han- 
dling of  this  subject.  Do  not  break  the  long 
lines  of  the  sea,  keep  the  sky  in  monotone,  con- 
centrate the  interest  on  wave  following  wave. 
The  dash  of  huge  breakers  on  the  rocky  coast 
of  Maine  offers  yet  another  phase.  The  swirl 
and  eddying  of  the  waters  will  require  steady- 
ing influences.  If  rocks  appear,  they  must  be 
in  masses,  for  the  spotty  effect  of  little  points 
of  black  will  spoil  the  picture. 

The  weakest  part  of  the  composition  is  likely 
to  be  the  foreground,  but  this  only  needs  to  be 
carefully  considered.  Human  figures,  breakers, 
sand  dunes,  rocks,  shells,  boats  hauled  up  on 
the  beach,  wrecks,  piers,  can  be  made  to  do  duty 
as  foreground  subjects.     Be  careful  not  to  get 


114     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

directly  in  front  of  the  incoming  wave,  for  this 
would  give  a  line  straight  across  the  plate  such 
as  we  learned  to  avoid  in  our  landscape  work. 
Study  surf  and  wave  action  before  you  try  to 
picture  them.  Watch  the  wave  as  it  breaks, 
and  decide  whether  you  prefer  to  take  it  just 
before  the  crest  falls  into  foaming  white  or 
a  little  later.     Keep  your  horizon  line  level. 

LIGHT  AND  HARMONY.— If  you  are 
photographing  yachts  from  the  water,  remem- 
ber that  the  noonday  sun  will  make  the  sails 
sink  into  the  sky,  and  that  a  three-quarter  view 
is  usually  preferable  to  either  side  or  end. 

"Vessels  large  may  venture  more, 
But  little  boats  must  keep  near  shore." 

When  we  photograph  the  stately  four-master 
or  the  gigantic  steamer  we  must  suggest  the 
deep  sea,  while  with  a  canoe  or  puffy  little  tug 
we  should  convey  the  impression  of  nearness 
to  shore. 

EXPOSURE.— Mr.  Osborne  I.  Yellott  ex- 
posed some  Cramer  Crown  plates  on  sea  views 
during  the  latter  part  of  August.  The  fact 
that  he  stands  sponsor  for  the  results  is  evi- 
dence of  their  success.  Therefore,  we  can 
scarcely  do  better  than  quote  his  exposures : 


SEA    PICTURES  115 

545  A.M.  Sun  behind  clouds F8   stop  1/50   second 

7.00  A.M.  Fairly  bright  sun F22  stop  1/50   second 

8.00  A.M.  Bright  sun  in  front  of 

camera F22  stop  i/ioo  second 

9.00  A.M.  Cloudy Fii  stop  i/ioo  second 

11.30  A.M.  Bright  sun F16  stop  i/ioo  second 

12.00  M.  Bright  sun F22  stop  i/ioo  second 

4.00  P.M.  Bright  sun F20  stop  i/ioo  second 

6.00  P.M.  Fairly  bright  sun Fii  stop  1/50    second 

PLATES. — I  should  never  use  an  ordinary 
plate  for  seashore  work,  but  would  choose  a 
double-coated  orthochromatic  brand  of  medium 
speed.  Halation  is  likely  to  trouble  us,  and  to 
avoid  this  we  must  use  double-coated  plates  or 
those  backed,  to  prevent  this  difficulty.  Films 
are  not  susceptible  to  this  objectionable  feature. 

RAY  FILTER.— A  ray  filter  is  almost  a 
necessity  in  obtaining  proper  values  in  water, 
sand  and  sky,  while  an  actinometer  will  help 
us  to  judge  correctly  the  actinic  quality  of  the 
light. 


Chapter  XII 
IN  THE  GOOD  OLD  WINTER  TIME 

NORTH  and  south,  winter  and  summer,  of- 
fer opportunities  to  the  photographer. 
Fashion  decrees  that  the  tourist  go 
south  in  the  \Yinter  and  north  in  the  summer. 
The  camera  too  often  follows  the  tourist. 
\Yhat  is  the  result?  The  southern  winter  is  a 
weak  replica  of  that  of  the  north.  The  nortli- 
ern  summer  is  an  immature  development  of  a 
southern  specialty.  Our  sensitive  plates  cannot 
portray  what  is  not  before  our  lens,  and  as  a 
consequence  we  get  insipid  photographs.  Bar- 
ring certain  technical  mistakes,  the  veriest  tyro 
can  make  his  film  exposed  in  the  frozen  north 
tell  a  story  of  cold,  and  his  picture  taken  under 
the  summer  sun  of  Florida  breathe  balm  and 
sunshine. 

The   following  account  of  the  author's   ex- 
perience on  a  winter  trip  to  the  Canadian  woods 
is  virtually  as  it  appeared  in  the  Photo-Era : 
116 


IN    THE    WINTER    TIME       117 

It  didn't  seem  so  very  cold  that  morning 
when  we  got  into  the  sleigh,  but  before  we  left 
it  my  breath  had  congealed  into  solid  ice  on  the 
inner  side  of  the  scarf  that  I  wore  around  my 
face,  and  my  eyelashes  were  frozen  together. 
When  we  stopped  at  a  habitant's  for  dinner  I 
could  scarcely  walk  from  the  sleigh  to  the 
house.  The  cold  had  found  every  crevice  and 
the  bitter  wind  which  we  had  faced  for  hours 
had  driven  it  straight  through  the  many  thick- 
nesses of  clothing,  until  I  was  fast  sinking  into 
a  condition  of  lethargy.  It  was  considerable 
time,  even  under  the  influence  of  a  hot  kitchen 
fire,  before  I  could  remove  the  outer  layers  of 
garments.  My  one  comfort  was  that  my  com- 
panion, inured  to  drives  when  the  mercury  was 
freezing,  was  thoroughly  chilled,  and  even  the 
driver,  enveloped  beyond  recognition  in  a  huge 
fur  coat,  was  nearing  his  limit  of  endurance 
when  we  stopped. 

I  had  been  vaguely  wondering  how  my 
camera  was  expected  to  catch  the  lumber-jack 
at  his  work,  or  how  it  was  to  learn  of  the  life 
at  Hudson's  Bay  Company's  posts,  when  its 
operator  was  too  cold  to  care  whether  he  was 
alive  or  dead.  But  after  thawing  for  an  hour 
before  the  warm  fire  and  stowing  away  an  as- 
tonishingly large  dinner,  I  dropped  some  of  the 


ii8     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

gloom  of  the  morning  and  began  to  consider 
camera  demands.  Outside  was  a  country  the 
like  of  which  I  had  never  seen.  Several  feet 
of  snow  covered  the  ground,  the  sun  shone 
brightly  out  of  a  cloudless  sky,  and  the  atmos- 
phere glittered  with  cold — intense,  dry,  metallic 
cold.  The  smoke  from  chimneys  hovered  close, 
as  if  reluctant  to  go  out  into  the  frozen  wilder- 
ness. It  was  all  a  new  world  to  me  and  I  sim- 
ply had  to  get  some  photographs. 

Camera  and  plate-holders  were  packed  away 
in  the  bottom  of  the  sleigh  under  a  pile  of  robes 
and  various  impedimenta,  and  it  was  a  work  of 
considerable  time  to  extricate  them.  But  the 
joy  of  the  scene  on  the  ground  glass  made  up 
to  me  for  the  hardship  of  the  long  drive,  for  on 
it  was  reflected  the  beauty  of  color,  although 
the  plate  could  translate  the  picture  only  into 
black  and  white.  Mittens  are  clumsy  things, 
and  I  could  not  turn  the  focusing-screw  without 
removing  the  one  from  my  left  hand.  Then 
I  found  that  I  could  not  easily  press  down  the 
exposure-knob  without  taking  off  the  right-hand 
one.  The  slide  of  the  plate-holder  stuck,  and  I 
took  off  the  silk  glove,  too,  from  my  right  hand. 

After  exposing  a  plate  on  a  particularly 
charming  view,  I  happened  to  look  at  my  hand, 
and  discovered  the  tell-tale  whiteness  of  thumb 


IN    THE    WINTER    TIME       119 

and  forefinger.  Hastily  putting  down  camera 
and  plate-box,  I  grabbed  a  handful  of  snow  and 
gave  that  freezing  hand  a  vigorous  rubbing. 
Then  it  seemed  about  time  to  return  to  the 
kitchen.  I  entered  the  room,  only  to  have  my 
companion  pull  me  outside  and  savagely  mas- 
sage my  face  with  snow. 

That  particular  picture  will  always  possess 
an  added  interest  for  me.  It  reminds  me  of  the 
boy  who  was  kicked  in  the  face  by  a  mule. 
When  he  slowly  came  out  of  unconsciousness 
he  anxiously  inquired  if  his  beauty  had  been 
spoiled.  "You  will  never  be  as  handsome,  my 
son,"  replied  his  father,  "but  you  will  know 
more."  I  am  yet  looking  for  a  solution  to  that 
problem  of  a  practicable  way  to  protect  my  face 
in  extremely  low  temperature.  A  foray  in  pic- 
ture making  when  the  mercury  is  low  in  the 
bulb  means  an  occasional  massage  with  snow  to 
work  out  the  frost.  A  series  of  pictures  taken 
one  morning  cost  four  distinct  freezes.  An- 
other set  combined  a  frozen  nose  with  clothes 
wet  with  perspiration.  The  trail  had  led  over 
a  hard  hill,  and  the  necessary  violent  exertion 
that  served  to  drench  my  clothes  could  not  pre- 
vent the  exposed  portions  of  my  anatomy  from 
almost  literally  turning  to  ice. 

But  these  are  scarcely  troubles.     The  good 


120     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

things  far  overbalance  them.  When,  the  fol- 
lowing spring,  I  went  over  much  of  the  same 
region,  I  vowed  that  never  again  would  I  wan- 
der through  the  woods  of  Quebec  save  in  the 
winter  time.  At  every  stop,  in  the  season  of 
cold,  I  had  to  limit  the  plates  to  be  used  on 
landscape  work  to  the  number  that  I  could 
spare  from  more  pressing  demands.  The  snow 
scenes  were  entrancing;  everywhere  were  views 
crying  to  be  taken.  The  spring  offered  no  op- 
portunities whatever  in  this  line.  I  spent  four 
weeks  following  the  log  drives  and  used  not  a 
single  plate  on  a  landscape. 

If  you  want  the  best  that  the  country  affords, 
go  to  Canada  in  the  winter  and,  by  all  means, 
go  to  Florida  in  the  "good  old  summer  time." 
Both  extremes  have  their  individual  ways  of 
attacking  plates  and  camera,  but  neither  calls 
for  special  apparatus.  Plates  deteriorate  under 
the  tropical  sun,  but  stay  good  in  the  northern 
cold.  But,  then,  oil  never  coagulates  in  the 
warmth  of  the  south,  while  it  makes  a  shutter 
immovable  in  the  north. 

I  knew  little  about  the  conditions  which  I  was 
to  face,  and  sought  advice.  My  camera  and 
plate-holders  were  taken  to  a  sporting  goods 
house  with  the  request  that  their  case  man  be 
turned  loose  on  the  job  of  preparing  them  for 


IN    THE    WINTER    TIME       121 

the  trip.  My  Reflex  camera  is  nearly  as  big  as 
a  house  and  as  heavy  as  a  trunk,  so  neither  size 
nor  weight  could  be  unnecessarily  increased,  and 
this  limited  the  workman's  opportunities.  As 
a  result  of  his  efforts  the  camera  was  fitted  with 
a  pantasote  case,  the  top  of  which  fastened  with 
patent  snap-catches,  and  was  made  practically 
waterproof  by  an  inner  throat  of  soft  rubber 
cloth  with  a  tie  string.  Around  the  working 
parts  of  the  camera,  the  case  was  reinforced 
with  leather. 

The  plate-holders  were  first  enclosed  in  a 
wooden  box,  and  this  fitted  with  a  pantasote 
case.  Both  have  been  left  out  in  tropical  rain- 
storms and  in  blizzards  of  snow  without  in- 
jury. The  neutral  color  prevents  the  absorption 
of  too  much  sun  in  the  south,  and  soaks  in 
enough  heat  from  its  rays  in  the  north.  My 
extra  plates  were  carried  in  the  original  crates, 
around  which  were  wrapped  several  thicknesses 
of  rubber  cloth. 

I  knew  that  the  cold  would  make  trouble  with 
oiled  springs,  and  so  I  sent  my  camera  to  the 
factory  with  instructions  to  wipe  all  working 
parts  dry.  With  apparatus  so  prepared,  the  re- 
maining responsibilities  seemed  to  rest  with  me. 

Too  sudden  raising  of  the  temperature  must 
be  avoided  as  scrupulously  as  the  plague.     One 


122     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

day  my  bared  hand  was  left  for  an  instant  too 
near  the  lens.  The  condensation  formed  a  thin 
cloud  of  ice  that  took  me  an  hour  to  thaw,  even 
with  the  help  of  a  warm  room.  Another  time 
the  camera  was  brought  into  a  warm  room  and 
immediately  collected  drops  of  moisture  on  all 
the  metal  parts.  These  drops  formed  little 
lumps  of  ice  the  moment  the  instrument  was 
carried  out  again  into  the  cold.  Of  course, 
nothing  would  work  until  the  whole  apparatus 
had  been  warmed  through  and  thoroughly 
dried.  After  that  experience  neither  camera 
nor  lens  was  brought  indoors  until  the  end  of 
the  trip. 

The  trouble  came  with  the  holders  and 
plates.  The  latter  could  not  be  handled  in  the 
cold,  and  must  not  be  warmed  too  suddenly  lest 
condensation  ensue.  By  bringing  them  into  the 
house  at  night,  wrapped  up  in  the  protecting 
cases,  the  heat  soaked  through  so  slowly  that 
by  morning  the  plates  in  the  holders  could  be 
packed  and  the  holders  easily  refilled  in  a 
changing  bag. 

The  biggest  error  that  I  made  was  in  the 
matter  of  exposures.  Camera-users  dinned  into 
my  ears  the  strength  of  the  snow-light  and  the 
certainty  of  over-exposure,  until  I  was  afraid  to 
take  the  cap  off  the  lens.     A  well-known  pho- 


IN    THE    WINTER    TIME       123 

tographer  and  his  collection  of  spoiled  plates 
were  quoted  to  me  as  a  warning. 

My  ray  filter  was  overworked.  To  be  sure, 
it  frequently  didn't  tell  the  truth,  but  It  caught 
some  atmospheric  effects  that  were  at  once  un- 
expected and  spectacular.  Proper  photog- 
raphers warn  you  against  under-exposing  a 
plate  with  a  ray  filter,  but  what  proper  person 
ever  got  the  best  out  of  life?  Silhouette  a 
figure  against  a  cloudy  sky  and  then  expose  for 
the  sky,  some  day,  and  see  what  you  get.  It 
will  not  be  art,  it  will  not  be  nature,  but  it  will 
be  worth  more  than  either  to  you — for  an 
experiment. 


Chapter  XIII 
WILD  LIFE 

THE  nature  writer  may  treat  animals  as 
impart  to  them  thoughts  and  motives 
beasts  who  cannot  reason,  or  he  may 
akin  to  our  own.  The  photographer  may  pic- 
ture them  as  a  part  of  their  surroundings  or  he 
may  seek  to  tell  some  story  of  their  lives.  To 
do  the  former,  he  pursues  them  to  their  lairs, 
using  a  lens  instead  of  a  bullet — first.  To  do 
the  latter,  he  must  enter  into  their  lives,  first 
and  last.  It  is  impossible  for  the  man  who 
uses  a  gun  to  make  his  photographic  plates  ex- 
press kindly  sentiment  in  the  creatures  that  he 
destroys. 

Much  of  the  success  that  I  had  with  photo- 
graphing birds  and  reptiles  in  Florida  was  due 
to  a  boy,  who  acted  as  one  of  my  guides.  He 
would  dissolve  in  tears  at  tales  of  cruelty.  He 
once  tried  to  shoot  up  a  rookery,  but  although 
he  badly  needed  the  money,  the  cries  of  the 
124 


WILD    LIFE  125 

hungry  little  birds  caused  him  to  abandon  an 
enterprise  that  bade  fair  to  net  a  thousand  dol- 
lars. He  wasn't  afraid,  he  was  simply  tender- 
hearted. Whenever  an  anchor  had  to  be  dove 
for  in  shark-infested,  swift-running  tideways, 
the  boatmen  who  laughed  at  his  tears  were 
ready  enough  to  let  him  go  overboard.  Birds 
and  beasts  instinctively  trusted  him,  and  obeyed 
his  orders.  For  a  week  our  houseboat  was  an- 
chored beside  a  mile  of  rookery.  In  those  seven 
days  not  a  shot  was  fired,  and  the  birds  became 
so  friendly  that  it  was  difficult  to  get  them  to 
fly.  They  had  ceased  to  be  afraid.  Harrison 
fed  them,  fondled  them,  spanked  them  and 
made  them  pose  for  the  camera  in  all  manner 
of  attitudes. 

He  handled  alligators  and  crocodiles  with 
the  same  freedom.  I  have  seen  him  wade  into 
a  mud-thick  pool,  feel  around  with  bare  feet 
until  he  found  a  'gator,  lift  it  to  the  surface  on 
his  toes,  grab  its  jaws  and  flounder  through 
mud  and  water  to  the  shore  with  his  captive. 
He  would  hold  open  the  jaws  of  a  saurian  half 
as  long  again  as  himself,  or  pull  its  tail  until 
the  creature  chased  him  across  the  prairie. 

I  believe  that  this  would  be  impossible  to  the 
man  who  habitually  shoots  wild  creatures.  He 
could  neither  handle  them  nor  photograph  them 


126     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

so  as  to  show  their  human  side, — if  I  may  so 
call  it.  The  sportsman  may  get  long-range 
shots  at  game  with  his  camera,  he  may  capture 
them  on  his  plate  by  flashlight,  he  may  conceal 
himself  in  a  blind  and  get  them  unawares,  but 
he  will  never  get  this  side  of  their  nature. 

A  requisite  for  photographing  wild  game  is 
honesty.  The  codes  of  ethics  are  many,  but  the 
nature  photographer  must  live  up  to  his  own 
ideals  if  he  wishes  his  work  to  be  accepted  by 
the  world  as  genuine.  I  will  illustrate  this  by 
citing  two  codes.  One  of  the  best-known  and 
scrupulously  honest  of  such  photographers  has 
in  his  collection  remarkable  pictures  of  wild 
animals  in  the  open,  but  also  those  of  such  crea- 
tures in  the  zoo.  My  code  forbids  me  to  pho- 
tograph in  a  zoo,  I  want  my  prints  to  show  wild 
creatures  in  their  native  habitat.  On  the  other 
hand,  I  do  not  hesitate,  if  occasion  requires,  to 
obtain  my  wild  creature  first  by  means  of  a 
lasso,  turning  him  loose  on  a  small  prairie  or 
key,  with  a  boy  to  head  him  off  from  his  home 
while  I  chase  him  around  with  a  camera. 

A  typical  example  of  the  conflict  of  our  ideals 
is  shown  in  a  photograph  of  fire-hunting  the  al- 
ligator. The  other  man  wouldn't  own  it,  while 
I  am  as  pleased  with  it  as  with  any  of  my  game 
pictures.     It  shows  how  the  reptile  is  killed  by 


WILD    LIFE  127 

that  method  of  hunting,  and  market  hunting  is 
practically  all  done  that  way.  The  man  firing 
the  gun  is  an  old  'gator  hunter,  the  bull's-eye 
lantern  is  one  which  has  been  used  for  that  very 
purpose,  the  skiff  has  carried  the  carcass  of 
many  dead  reptiles.  The  creature  shown  in  the 
picture  was  captured  with  a  lasso  only  a  few 
miles  from  the  scene  of  the  photograph.  It  is 
unharmed  and  unafraid.  A  few  hours  after 
this  picture  was  taken,  it  was  released  to  return 
to  its  domicile.  The  weak  link  in  the  chain  is 
the  fact  that  the  alligator  had  to  be  held  in 
position  by  a  rope  tied  to  one  leg.  In  the  day- 
time the  boy  could  chase  it  with  a  club,  outrun 
and  outmaneuver  it,  but  at  night  this  was  im- 
possible. To  get  a  picture  of  fire-hunting  that 
would  illustrate  the  subject,  that  would  convey 
the  idea,  I  was  forced  to  tie  a  string  to  the 
creature's  leg.  And  my  own  code  of  photo- 
graphic ethics  allows  me  to  do  this. 

Two  characteristic  alligator  attitudes  are — 
lying  asleep  on  a  sun  bath  and  quietly  floating 
beneath  the  water  with  only  the  tip  of  the  nose 
and  the  eyes  showing  above  the  surface.  Either 
of  these  poses  tells  the  story  of  many  waking 
hours  of  the  creature.  If  you  glide  quietly 
around  in  a  skiff,  you  may  see  both  of  these 
sights  at  long  range,  but  almost  never  will  the 


128     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

reptiles  be  caught  sufficiently  off  their  guard  to 
allow  a  near  approach. 

Sun  baths  and  expanses  of  water  are  plenty, 
alligators  may  be  caught  with  a  rope,  a  net  or 
a  boy  wading  into  a  pool.  A  man  accustomed 
to  handling  them  will  make  them  pose  for  their 
picture  with  more  ease  than  you  can  get  a  so- 
ciety girl  to  sit  for  her  portrait.  The  creature 
may  thus  be  portrayed  with  every  accessory  true 
to  nature,  himself  unharmed,  his  home  exactly 
as  it  would  be  without  a  human  being  within  a 
score  of  miles.  The  one  change  which  has 
come  over  the  subject  is  an  acquaintance  with 
fear.  He  has  met  man  and  been  conquered 
by  mental  force  rather  than  physical. 

The  Florida  crocodile  was  a  shy  creature 
some  score  of  years  ago  (he  has  joined  the 
genus  dodo  now) ,  but  the  same  tactics  that  were 
successful  with  his  cousin,  the  alligator,  were  of 
use  with  him  Caught  in  a  net  and  liberated 
on  a  small,  open  key,  he  would  give  a  perform- 
ance punctuated  with  clicking  of  the  jaws  and 
pursuits  of  his  captors.  After  some  of  his 
energy  had  been  spent  he  would  exhibit  the 
quieter  moods  of  sunning  himself  and  lying  at 
the  mouth  of  his  cave,  head  above  the  water. 

I  am  not  taking  space  to  tell  what  exposure 
I  used  or  what  brand  of  plates  were   in  my 


WILD   LIFE  129 

holders  when  these  opportunities  came  to  me, 
for  the  factor  was  the  character  of  the  oppor- 
tunity and  not  the  make  of  lens. 

Wild  turkeys  have  rarely  been  photographed. 
In  the  midst  of  the  Big  Cypress  Swamp  is  a 
three-hundred-acre  grape-fruit  plantation,  be- 
longing to  a  friend  of  mine,  where  hunting  is 
tabooed.  The  road  to  this  plantation  is  neither 
dry  land  nor  water,  one  can  neither  walk  nor 
swim,  but  the  wild  turkeys  wander  through  the 
grove  as  regardless  of  man  as  the  barnyard 
variety.  Therefore,  the  enthusiastic  photog- 
rapher, having  received  permission  to  go  there, 
transports  himself  and  his  outfit  across  the  im- 
passable morass,  regardless  of  difficulties.  The 
boundary  of  the  plantation  is  a  dead-line  known 
as  familiarly  to  the  turkeys  as  to  the  owner. 
Once  within  its  shelter,  the  birds  are  without 
fear  and  hobnob  with  the  workmen,  but  outside 
of  its  protection  they  put  on  their  native  shy- 
ness as  if  it  were  a  garment  taken  from  the 
hat-rack. 

On  a  little  key  near  Cape  Sable  a  family  of 
big  blue  herons  had  their  home.  We  happened 
there  when  the  babies  were  a  few  days  old  and 
again  when  the  infants  were  learning  to  fly. 
Harrison  became  master  of  ceremonies,  and 
under  his  tuition  the   children  did  everything 


130     OUTDOOR    PHOTOGRAPHY 

that  children  could  do  for  the  camera.  He  held 
a  harpoon-pole  just  under  the  water  for  them 
to  stand  on.  A  little  rolling  of  the  pole  would 
cause  the  bird  to  lose  his  balance  and  his  wings 
would  outspread.  After  an  hour's  seance,  Har- 
rison returned  the  babies  to  their  nest,  wiser 
little  birds. 

Here  and  there  are  little  oases,  where  the 
olive  branch  is  held  out  to  the  creatures  of  the 
wild.  Ducks  swim  around  certain  great  hotels 
and  in  certain  lakes  on  Long  Island;  bears  act 
as  garbage  gatherers  in  the  Yellowstone;  deer 
harvest  the  crop  of  some  orchards  in  Massa- 
chusetts; squirrels  eat  from  the  hands  of  chil- 
dren in  the  city  parks.  Some  one  of  these  is 
within  reach  of  every  user  of  a  camera,  and  the 
photographer  need  not  wait  about  setting  forth 
on  the  trail. 

In  photographing  animals  it  is  important  to 
avoid  sudden  motions.  The  quiet,  almost  im- 
perceptible action  will  not  startle  the  creature, 
while  the  quick  movement  of  hand  or  body  will 
send  it  scurrying  for  its  hole.  If  you  are  photo- 
graphing a  maddened  swarm  of  bees,  a  sudden 
move  will  bring  down  trouble,  while  if  you  let 
them  crawl  over  face  and  hands  and  buzz 
around  your  head  you  may  escape  altogether 
from  their  stings.     If  a  half-wild  lynx  lands  on 


WILD    LIFE  131 

your  head  at  night  as  you  He  sleeping  in  the 
open,  this  same  keeping  still  first  may  save  a 
severe  mauling.  I  have  tried  them,  and  speak 
from  experience. 


INDEX 


Actinometer,  37. 
Action  pictures,  apparatus  for, 
104. 

Exposure  for,   106. 

Of   tarpon,    103. 

Plates  for,  106. 

Bromide  papers,  59. 

Camera,    hand,    20,    23. 

Reflecting,  17,  21,  22,  94. 

Tripod,    19. 
Chiaroscuro,    71. 
City  scenes,  85  et  seq. 
Composition,  12,  13,  67  et  seq, 
100. 

Developers,  carbonate   of  soda, 
44. 

Hydroquinone,   43. 

Pyro,  44,  45. 

Pyroacetone,    47. 

Rodinal,   43,  45. 
Development,   after   treatment, 
49. 

Factorial  system   of,  43. 

Formula  for,  51,  60. 

Tank,  48,  49. 

Temperature,    50. 

Tray,  formula  for,  51. 

Exposure,    35. 

For  action   pictures,    106. 
For  sea   pictures,    115. 
Tables  for,  38,  39,  40,  41. 
To  find  time  of,  95. 

"F,"  value  of,  25. 

Films,  32,  33. 
Fixing,    52. 

Formulas.    58,    60. 
Focal  length,  definition,  25,  26. 
Focal  plane  shutter,  21,  93. 
Focus,    28. 

Graflex — see    Camera    (Reflect- 
ing). 
Ground  glass,  20. 


Hydroquinone,  43. 

Jena  glass,  24. 

Landscapes,  74,  et  seq. 
Lenses,  24  et  seq. 

Anastigmatic,    24. 

Telephoto,  26. 
Light,  actinic,  value  of,   37. 

Harmony   and,    114. 

When  poor,    100. 

Plates,  contrast,  30. 

For  seashore  work,   115. 

High   speed,   31. 

Orthochromatic,  43. 
Printing,   64. 

Bromide   papers,   59. 

Carbon,  61,   62. 

Platinum,    58. 

Solio,    54. 

Velox,  60. 
Pyro,  44,  45. 
Pyroacetone,    47. 

Ray  Filter.  30,   115. 
Reducer,   Farmer's,   52. 

Persulphate,   52. 
Reflex — see    Camera     (Reflect- 
ing)- 
Rodinal,  43,  45. 

Sea  pictures,   112  et  seq. 

Sky  photography,  81. 

Solio,    printing,    54. 

Speed  photography,  92  et  seq. 

Stops,   28,   40. 

Sun,  proper  position  of,  39. 

Tarpon,   photographing,    103. 
Toning,    55. 

Formula   for,  56. 

With   Solio,   55. 

Velox,  60. 

Wild   life   photography,    124   et 

seq. 
Winter  photography,   116. 


@-y-=H-N-6 

14  A  IMriROOI^  Q  ^^^  "^"^  textbooks  for 
ri/TLllL/OV-rV-rlVO    outdoor  work  and  play 

CL  Each  book  deals  with  a  separate  subject 
and  deals  with  it  thoroughly.  If  you  want  to 
know  anything  about  Airedales  an  0  U  T'l  N  G 
HANDBOOK  gives  you  all  you  want.  If 
it's  Apple  Growing,  another  G  U  T'l  N  G 
HANDBOOK  meets  your  need.  The  Fisher- 
man, the  Camper,  the  Poultry-raiser,  the  Auto- 
mobilist,  the  Horseman,  all  varieties  of  out- 
door enthusiasts,  will  find  separate  volumes  for 
their  separate  interests.  There  is  no  waste  space. 

CI.  The  series  is  based  on  the  plan  of  one  sub- 
ject to  a  book  and  each  book  complete.  The 
authors  are  experts.  Each  book  has  been  spec- 
ially prepared  for  this  series  and  all  are  pub- 
lished in  uniform  style,  flexible  cloth  binding. 

d.  Two  hundred  titles  are  projected.  The 
series  covers  all  phases  of  outdoor  life,  from 
bee-keeping  to  big-game  shooting.  Among 
the  books  now  ready  or  in  preparation  are 
those  described  on  the  following  pages. 

O  U  T  I  N  C^P  U  B  L  I  SHI  N  G     COMPANY 

OUTING    MAGAZINE  VOCMins  e^^^!-^^e  HANDBOOKS 

I4I-I45  WEST  ?&TH  ST  NEW  YORK  l22  S.  vllCHICAN  AVE. CHICAGO 


THE  AIREDALE,  by  Williams  Haynes.  The  book 
opens  with  a  short  chapter  on  the  origin  and  development  of  the 
Airedale,  as  a  distinctive  breed.  The  author  then  takes  up  the 
problems  of  type  as  bearing  on  the  selection  of  the  dog,  breeding, 
training  and  use.  The  book  is  designed  for  the  non-professional  dog 
fancier,  who  wishes  common  sense  advice  which  does  not  involve 
elaborate  preparation  or  expenditure.  Chapters  are  included  on  the 
care  of  the  dog  in  the  kennel  and  simple  remedies  for  ordinary 
diseases. 

"//  ought  to  be  read  and  studied  by  every  Airedale  oivrter 
and  admirer." — Ho^ward  Keeler,  Airedale  Farm  Kennels. 

APPLE  GROWING,  Ly  M.  C.  Burritt.     The  various 

problems  confronting  the  apple  grower,  from  the  preparation  of  the- 
soil  and  the  planting  of  the  trees  to  the  marketing  of  the  fruit,  are 
discussed  in  detail  by  the  author.  Chapter  headings  are: —  The 
Outlook  for  the  Growing  of  Apples — Planning  for  the  Orchard — 
Planting  and  Growing  the  Orchard — Pruning  the  Trees — Cultivation 
and  Cover  Cropping — Manuring  and  Fertilizing — Insects  and  Dis- 
eases Affecting  the  Apple — The  Principles  and  Practice  of  Spraying 
— Harvesting  and  Storing — Markets  and  Marketing — Some  Hints  on 
Renovating  Old  Orchards — The  Cost  of  Growing  Apples. 


THE  AUTOMOBILE— Its  Selection,  Care  and  Use, 
by  Robert  Sloss.  This  is  a  plain,  practical  discussion  of  the 
things  that  every  man  needs  to  know  if  he  is  to  buy  the  right  car 
and  get  the  most  out  of  it.  The  various  details  of  operation  and 
care  are  given  in  simple,  intelligent  terms.  From  it  the  car  owner 
can  easily  learn  the  mechanism  of  his  motor  and  the  art  of  locating 
motor  trouble,  as  well  as  how  to  use  his  car  for  the  greatest  pleasure. 
A  chapter  is  included  on  building  garages. 

BACKWOODS   SURGERY   AND   MEDICINE,   by 

Charles  S.  Moody,  M.  D.  A  handy  book  for  the  prudent  lover 
of  the  woods  who  doesn't  expect  to  be  ill  but  believes  in  being  on  the 
safe  side.  Common-sense  methods  for  the  treatment  of  the  ordinary 
wounds  and  accidents  are  described— ^setting  a  broken  limb,  reduc- 
ing a  dislocation,  caring  for  burns,  cuts,  etc.  Practical  remedies  for 
camp  diseases  are  recommended,  as  well  as  the  ordinary  indications 
of  the  most  probable  ailments.  Includes  a  list  of  the  necessary  med- 
ical and  surgical  supplies. 

The  manager  of  a  mine  in  Nome,  Alaska,  nvrites  as  fol- 
lows: "/  have  been  on  the  trail  for  years  {tvjelve  in  the 
Klondike  and  Alaska)  and  have  alvjays  ivanted  just  suck 
a  book  as  Dr. Moody's  Backwoods  Surgery  and  Medicine. 

2 


THE  BULL  TERRIER,  by  Williams  Haynes.  This 
is  a  companion  book  to  "The  Airedale"  and  "Scottish  and  Irish  Ter- 
riers" by  the  same  author.  Its  greaf^st  usefulness  is  as  a  guide  to 
the  dog  owner  who  wishes  to  be  his  own  kennel  manager.  A  full 
account  of  the  development  of  the  breed  is  given  as  also  description 
of  best  types  and  standards.  Recommendations  for  the  care  of 
the  dog  in  health  or  sickness  are  included.  The  chapter  heads 
cover  such  matters  as: — The  Bull  Terrier's  History — Training  the 
Bull  Terrier — The  Terrier  in  Health — Kennelling — Diseases. 

CAMP  COOKERY,  by  Horace  Kephart.  "The  less 
a  man  carries  in  his  pack  the  more  he  must  carry  in  his  head",  says 
Mr.  Kephart.  This  book  tells  what  a  man  should  carry  in  both  pack 
and  head.  Every  step  is  traced — the  selection  of  provisions  and 
utensils,  with  the  kind  and  quantity  of  each,  the  preparation  of  game, 
the  building  of  fires,  the  cooking  of  every  conceivable  kind  of  food 
that  the  camp  outfit  or  woods,  fields  or  streams  may  provide — even 
to  the  making  of  desserts.  Every  recipe  is  the  result  of  hard  practice 
and  long  experience.  Every  recipe  has  been  carefully  tested.  It  is 
the  book  for  the  man  who  wants  to  dine  well  and  wholesomely,  but 


in  true  wilderness  fashion  without  reliance  on  grocery  stores  or 
elaborate  camp  outfits.  It  is  adapted  equally  Avell  to  the  trips  of 
every  length  and  to  all  conditions  of  climate,  season  or  country;  the 
best  possible  companion  for  one  who  wants  to  travel  light  and  live 
well.  The  chapter  headings  tell  their  own  story.  Provisions — 
Utensils — Fires — Dressing  and  Keeping  Game  and  Fish — Meat — 
Game  —Fish  and  Shell  Fish — Cured  Meats,  etc. — Eggs — Breadstuff's 
and  Cereals — Vegetables — Soups — Beverages  and  Desserts. 

"Camp  Cookery  is  destined  to  be  in  the  kit  of  every  tent 
d'voeller  in  the  country." — Ed-win  Markham  in  the  San 
Francisco  Examiner, 

CANOE     AND     BOAT     BUILDING,     by     Victor 

Slocum.  AH  of  us  like  to  think  we  could  build  a  boat  if  we  had 
to.  Mr.  Slocum  tells  us  how  to  do  it.  Designs  are  given  for  the 
various  types  of  canoes  as  well  as  full  descriptions  for  preparing  the 
material  and  putting  it  together.  Small  dories  and  lapstreak  boats 
are  also  included. 


CATTLE  DISEASES,  by  B.  T.  Woodward.  Mr. 
Woodward  takes  up  in  detail  the  various  common  diseases  to  which 
cattle  are  liable.  His  book  is  designed  for  the  aid  of  the  practical 
farmer  in  cases  where  the  skilled  veterinarian  is'  not  necessary.  A 
careful  description  of  the  various  diseases  is  given  and  the  accepted 
forms  of  treatment  stated. 

EXERCISE  AND  HEALTH,  by  Dr.  Woods  Hutch- 

inson.  Dr.  Hutchinson  takes  the  conunon-sense  \'iew  that  the 
greatest  problem  in  exercise  for  most  of  us  is  to  get  enough  of  the 
right  kind.  The  greatest  error  in  exercise  is  not  to  take  enough, 
and  the  greatest  danger  in  athletics  is  in  gi%ing  them  up.  The  Chap- 
ter heads  are  illuminating.  Errors  in  Exercise — Exercise  and  the 
Heart — Muscle  Maketh  Man — The  Danger  of  Stopping  Athletics — 
Exercise  that  Rests.  It  is  written  in  a  direct  matter-of-fact  manner 
with  an  avoidance  of  medical  terms,  and  a  strong  emphasis  on  the 
rational,  all-round  manner  of  living  that  is  best  calculated  to  bring  a 
man  to  a  ripe  old  age  with  little  illness  or  consciousness  of  bodily 
weakness. 

"One  of  the  most  readable  books  ever  luritten  on  physi- 
cal exercise." — Luther  H .  Gulick,  M.D.,  Department 
of  Child  Hygiene,  'H.ussell  Sage  Foundation. 


FARM  DRAINAGE  «S:  IRRIGATION,  by  W  .J.McGee. 

Sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  spend  money  to  get  water  on  the  land; 
sometimes  to  get  it  off.  Mr.  McGee  has  studied  the  question  from  both 
angles  in  his  work  for  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  this  book 
will  contain  his  latest  and  fullest  conclusions.  Particular  attention 
will  be  paid  to  the  matter  of  sub-surface  irrigation  to  which  little 
heed  has  been  given  until  lately. 

FENCING,  by  Edward  Breck.  Dr.  Breck  was  for  many 
years  one  of  the  best-kno\*Ti  amateur  fencers  in  .America  and  is  ac- 
quainted with  the  best  swordsmen  of  the  present  day.  here  and 
abroad.  His  book  is  a  practical  guide  for  those  who  wish  to  know 
the  most  approved  practice  in  the  use  of  the  foil,  duelling  sword,  or 
saber.  Suggestions  are  given  on  training  and  condition,  as  well 
as  on  the  finer  points  of  the  game. 

4 


THE  FINE  ART  OF  FISHING,  by  Samuel  G.  Camp. 

Combines  the  pleasure  of  catching  fish  with  the  gratification  of  fol- 
lowing the  sport  in  the  most  approved  manner.  The  suggestions 
offered  are  helpful  to  beginner  and  expert  anglers.  The  range  of 
fish  and  fishing  conditions  covered  is  wide  and  includes  such  sub- 
jects as  "Casting  Fine  and  Far  Off",  "Strip-Casting  for  Bass",  "Fish- 
ing for  Mountain  Trout"  and  "Autumn  Fishing  for  Lake  Trout". 
The  book  is  pervaded  with  a  spirit  of  love  for  the  streamside  and  the 
out-doors  generally  which  the  genuine  angler  will  appreciate.  A 
companion  book  to  "Fishing  Kits  and  Equipment".  The  advice  on 
outfitting  so  capably  given  in  that  book  is  supplemented  in  this  later 
work  by  equally  valuable  information  on  how  to  use  the  equipment. 

"fVill  encourage  the  beginner  and  give  pleasure  to  the 

expert  fisherman."- — A^.  Y.  Sun. 

FISHING  KITS  AND  EQUIPMENT  by  Samuel  G. 

L-amp.  A  complete  guide  to  the  angler  buying  a  new  outfit.  Every 
detail  of  the  fishing  kit  of  the  freshwater  angler  is  described,  from  rod- 
tip  to  creel,  and  clothing.     Special  emphasis  is  laid  on  outfitting  for 


fly  fishing,  but  full  instruction  is  also  given  to  the  man  who  wants 
to  catch  pickerel,  pike,  muskellunge,  lake-trout,  bass  and  other  fresh- 
water game  fishes.  Prices  are  quoted  for  all  articles  recommended 
and  the  approved  method  of  selecting  and  testing  the  various  rods, 
lines,  leaders,  etc.,  is  described. 

*'A  complete  guide  to  the  angler  buying  a  neiv  outfit." — 

— Peoria  Herald. 

FISHING  WITH  FLOATING  FLIES  by  Samuel  G. 

Camp.  This  is  an  art  that  is  comparatively  new  in  this  country 
although  English  anglers  have  used  the  dry  fly  for  generations.  Mr. 
Camp  has  given  the  matter  special  study  and  is  one  of  the  few  Amer- 
ican anglers  who  really  understands  the  matter  from  the  selection  of 
the  outfit  to  the  landing  of  the  fish.  His  book  takes  up  the  process 
in  that  order,  namely — How  to  Outfit  for  Dry  Fly  Fishing — How, 
Where,  and  When  to  Cast — The  Selection  and  Use  of  Floating  Flies 
— Dry  Fly  Fishing  for  Brook,  Brown  and  Rainbow  Trout — Hooking, 
Playing  and  Landing — Practical  Hints  on  Dry  Fly  Fishing. 


THE  FOX  TERRIER,  by  Williams  Haynes.     As  in 

his  other  books  on  the  terrier,  Mr.  HajTies  takes  up  the  origin  and 
history  ot  the  breed,  its  types  and  standards,  and  the  more  exclusive 
representatives  down  to  the  present  time.  Training  the  Fox  Terrier 
— His  Care  and  Kenneling  in  Sickness  and  Health — and  the  Various 
Uses  to  Which  He  Can  be  Put — are  among  the  phases  handled. 

THE    GASOLINE   MOTOR,    by    Harold   Whiting 

olauson.  Deals  with  the  practical  problems  of  motor  operation. 
The  standpoint  is  that  of  the  man  who  wishes  to  kno'v  how  and 
why  gasoline  generates  power  and  something  about  the  varioas 
types.  Describes  in  detail  the  different  parts  of  motors  and  the 
faults  to  which  they  are  liable.  Also  gives  full  directions  as  to  re- 
pair and  upkeep.  Various  chapters  deal  with  Types  of  Motors — 
Valves — Bearings —  Ignition  —  Carburetors  —  Lubrication  —  Fuel  — 
Two  Cycle  Motors. 

GUNSMITHING  FOR  THE  AMATEUR,  by  Edward 

C  Grossman.  Mr.  Crossman,  who  is  one  of  the  best-known 
rifle  experts  in  the  country,  takes  up  in  detail  the  care  and  repair 
of  the  gun.  He  discusses  such  questions  as  The  Present  Develop- 
ment of  the  Gun — Tools  for  the  Amateur — Rifle  Barrels — Smooth 
Bore  Barrels — Rifle  Actions — Pistol  and  Gun  Actions — Refinishing 
and  Processing — The  ^tock,  Sights  and  Aids  to  Accuracy. 


THE  HORSE— Its  Breeding,  Care  and  Use,  by 
iJavid  Jjuiium.  Mr.  Buffum  takes  up  the  common,  every-day 
problems  of  the  ordinary  horse-user,  such  as  feeding,  shoeing, 
simple  home  remedies,  breaking  and  the  cure  for  various  equine 
vices.  An  important  chapter  is  that  tracing  the  influx  ot  Arabian 
blood  into  the  English  and  American  horses  and  its  value  and  limi- 
tations. Chapters  are  included  on  draft-horses,  carriage  horses,  and 
the  development  of  the  two-minute  trotter.  It  is  distinctly  a  sensible 
book  for  the  sensible  man  who  wishes  to  know  how  he  can  improve 
his  horses  and  his  horsemanship  at  the  same  time. 

INTENSIVE   FARMING,  by  L.  C.  Corbett.     a  dis- 

cussion  of  the  meaning,  method  and  value  of  intensive  methods  in 
agriculture.  This  book  is  designed  for  the  convenience  of  practical 
farmers  who  find  themselves  under  the  necessity  of  making  a  living 
out  of  high-priced  land. 


LAYING  OUT  THE  FARM  FOR 
PROFIT,   by  L.  G.  Dodge.      One  of  the 

farmers'  great  problems  is  to  put  every  acre  of 
his  land  to  the  best  possible  use.  This  book 
discusses  the  methods  ot  obtaining  this  result. 
The  author  is  an  investigator  for  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  and  has  given  particular  atten- 
tion to  this  subject. 


THE  MOTOR  BOAT— Its  Selection,  Care  and  Use, 

by  H.  W.  Slauson.  The  intending  purchaser  is  advised  as  to  the 
tj^je  of  motor  boat  best  suited  to  his  particular  needs  and  how  to 
keep  it  in  running  condition  after  purchased.  The  Chapter  headings 
are:  Kinds  and  Uses  of  Motor  Boats — When  the  Motor  Balks — 
Speeding  of  the  Motor  Boat — Getting  More  Power  from  a  New  Motor 
— How  to  Install  a  Marine  Power  Plant — 
Accessories — Covers,  Canopies  and  Tops — 
Camping  and  Cruising — The  Boathouse.  ^    ^_^     ^^ 

NAVIGATION  FOR  THE  AMA- 
TEUR, by  Capt.  E.  T.  Morton,  a  short 
treatise  on  the  simpler  methods  of  finding 
position  at  sea  by  the  observation  of  the  sun's 
altitude  and  the  use  of  the  sextant  and  chro- 
nometer. It  is  arranged  especially  for  yachts- 
men and  amateurs  who  wish  to  know  the  simpler  formulae  for  the 
necessary  navigation  involved  in  taking  a  boat  anywhere  off  shore. 
Illustrated  >vith  dra^vings.  Chapter  headings:  Fundamental  Terms — 
Time — The  Sumner  Line — The  Day's  Work,  Equal  Altitude,  and 
Ex-Meridian  Sights — Hints  on  Taking  Observations. 


OUTDOOR  PHOTOGRAPHY,  by  Julian  A.  Dimock. 

A  solution  of  all  the  problems  in  camera  work  out-of-doors.  The 
various  subjects  dealt  wth  are  The  Camera — Lens  and  Plates— Light 
and  Exposvu-e  —  Development  —  Prints  and  Printing  —  Composi- 
tion —  Landscapes  —  Figure  Work  —  Speed  Photography  —  The 
Leaping  Tarpon — Sea  Pictures — In  the  Good  Old 
Winter  Time — Wild  Life.  The  purpose  of  the  book 
is  to  serve  as  a  guide  not  only  for  the  man  or 
woman  who  has  just  taken  up  the  use  of  the 
camera,  but  also  for  those  who  have  progressed 
far  enough  to  know  some  of  the  problems  that 
confront  them. 


OUTDOOR  SIGNALLING,   by   Elbert  Wells.     Mr. 

Wells  has  perfected  a  method  of  signalling  by  means  of  ^vig-wag. 
light,  smoke,  or  whistle  which  is  as  simple  as  it  is  effective.  The 
fundamental  principle  can  be  learnt  in  ten  minutes  and  its  applica- 
tion is  far  easier  than  that  of  any  other  code  now  in  use.  It  permits 
also  the  use  of  cipher  and  can  be  adapted  to  almost  any  imaginable 
conditions  of  weather,  light,  or  topography. 

"I  find  it  to  be  the  simplest  and  most  practical  book  on 
signalling  published.^' — Frank  H.  Schrenk,  Director  of 
Camp  Belgrade. 

"One  of  the  finest  things  of  the  kind  I  have  ever  seen.  I 
believe  my  seven  year  old  hoy  can  learn  to  use  this  system, 
and  I  know  that  ive  nvillfind  it  very  useful  here  in  our 
Boy  Scout  ivork."— Lyman  G.  Haskell,  Physical  Direc- 
tor, r.  M.  C.  A.,  Jacksonville,  Fla. 


PACKING  AND  PORTAGING,  by  Dillon  Wallace. 

Mr.  Wallace  has  brought  together  in  one  volume  all  the  valuable 
information  on  the  different  ways  of  making  and  carrying  the 
different  kinds  of  packs.  The  ground  covered  ranges  from  man- 
packing  to  horse-packing,  from  the  use  of  the  tump  line  to  throwing 
the  diamond  hitch.  The  various  chapters  deal  with  Packing  and 
the  Outfit — The  Canoe  and  Its  Equipment — Camp  Equipment  for 
the  Canoe  Trip— Personal  Equipment — Food — The  Portage — Travel 
with  Saddle  and  Pack  Animals — Saddle  and  Pack  Equipment — 
Adjusting  the  Pack — Some  Practical  Hitches — Traveling  ^  ithout  a 
Pack  Horse— Afoot  in  Summer — \^  ith  Snowshoes  and  Toboggan— 
With  Dogs  and  Komatik. 

PRACTICAL  POULTRY  KEEPING,  by  R.  B.  Sando. 

In  effect  a  comprehensive  manual  for  the  instruction  of  the  man 
who  desires  to  begin  pouhry  raising  on  a  large  or  small  scale  and  to 
avoid  the  ordinary  mistakes  to  which  the  beginner  is  prone.  All 
the  statements  are  based  on  the  author's  own  experience,  and  special 
care  has  been  taken  to  avoid  sensationalism  and  exaggeration.  The 
general  contents  are  Poultry  Keeping  and  Keepers— Housing  and 
Yarding — Fixtures  and  E(|uipment — Choosing  and  Buying  Stock — 
Foods  and  Feeding — Hatching  and  Raising  Chicks— Poultry  Diseases. 
Illustrated. 

8 


PROFITABLE  BREEDS  OF  POULTRY,  by  Arthur 

o.  VVneeler.  Mr.  Wheeler  discusses  from  personal  experience 
the  best-known  general  purpose  breeds.  Advice  is  given  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  man  who  desires  results  in  eggs  and  stock  rather 
than  in  specimens  for  exhibition.  In  addition  to  a  careful  analysis 
of  stock — good  and  bad — and  some  conclusions  regarding  housing 
and  management,  the  author  writes  in  detail  regarding  Plymouth 
Rocks,  Wyandottes,  Orpingtons,  Rhode  Island  Reds,  Mediterraneans 
and  the  Cornish. 

''This  is  an  in-i'aluable  book  for  those  njjho  ivould  make 
a  success  in  the  poultry  business." — Grand  %_apids, 
(Mich.)  Herald. 

RIFLES    AND    RIFLE    SHOOTING,    by    Charles 

Askins.  A  practical  manual  describing  various  makes  and  mechan- 
isms, in  addition  to  discussing  in  detail  the  range  and  limitations  in 
the  use  of  the  rifle.  Among  other  things,  the  chapters  deal  with 
The  Development  of  the  American  Breech-Loading  Rifle — Single 
Shot   Rifle — Lever-Action    Repeater — Pump-Action    Repeater    and 


Military  Bolt-Action — Double  Rifle— Rifle  and  Shotgun— Self-Loading 
Rifle — Rifle  Cartridges,  Miniature  and  Gallery— Small  Game — 
Match-Rifle  Cartridges  and  Their  Manipulation — High  Power, 
Small  Bore  Hunting  Cartridges — Big  Bore,  High  Power  Cartridges 
—Trajectory,  Accuracy,  and  Power  of  Hunting  Cartridges — Weight 
of  Rifle  and  Recoil — Stocks  and  Triggers — Rifle  Sights — Positions 
for  Rifle  Shooting — Outdoor  Target  Shooting, — Quick  Firing  and 
Running  Shots — Fancy  Snap  and  Wingshooting — Two-Hundred  Yard 
Sharpshooting. 

SCOTTISH  AND  IRISH  TERRIERS,  by  Williams 

xlaynes.  This  is  a  companion  book  to  "The  Airedale",  and  deals 
with  the  history  and  development  of  both  breeds.  For  the  owner 
of  the  dog,  valuable  information  is  given  as  to  the  use  of  the 
terriers,  their  treatment  in  health,  their  treatment  when  sick,  the 
principles  of  dog  breeding,  and  dog  shows  and  rules. 

The  happy  o-ivner  of  a  terrier  for  the  first  time  could 

not  go    nvrong   if  he  follonxjs  Mr.   Haynes'  advice." — 

"Brooklyn  Standard  Union. 


SPORTING  FIREARMS,  by  Horace  Kephart.     This 

book  is  the  result  of  painstaking  tests  and  experiments.  Practically 
nothing  is  taken  for  granted.  Part  I  deals  with  the  rifle,  and  Part 
II  with  the  shotgun.  The  man  seeking  guidance  in  the  selection 
and  use  of  small  firearms,  as  well  as  the  advanced  student  of  the 
subject,  will  receive  an  unusual  amount  of  assistance  from  this  work. 
The  chapter  headings  are:  Rifles  and  Ammunition — The  Flight  of 
Bullets — Killing  Power — Rifle  Mechanism  and  Materials— Rifle 
Sights — Triggers  and  Stocks — Care  of  Rifle — Shot  Patterns  and 
Penetration — -Gauges  and  Weights  —  Mechanism  and  Build  of 
Shotguns. 


TRACKS    AND    TRACKING,   by   Josef  Brunner. 

After  twenty  years  of  patient  study  and  practical  experience,  Mr. 
Brunner  can,  from  his  intimate  knowledge,  speak  with  authority  on 
this  subject.  "Tracks  and  Tracking"  shows  how  to  follow  intelli- 
gently even  the  most  intricate  animal  or  bird  tracks.  It  teaches 
how  to  interpret  tracks  of  wild  game  and  decipher  the  many  tell- 
tale signs  of  the  chase  that  would  otherwise  pass  unnoticed.  It 
proves  how  it  is  possible  to  tell  from  the  footprints  the  name,  sex, 
speed,  direction,  whether  and  how  wounded,  and  many  other  things 
about  wild  animals  and  birds.  All  material  has  been  gathered  first 
hand;  the  drawings  and  half-tones  from  photographs  form  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  work,  as  the  author  has  made  faithful  pictures  of 
the  tracks  and  signs  of  the  game  followed.  The  list  is:  The  White- 
Tailed  or  Virginia  Deer — The  Fan-Tailed  Deer — The  Mule-Deer — 
The  Wapiti  or  Elk — The  Moose  ^ — The  Mountain  Sheep — The 
Antelope — The  Bear — The  Cougar — The  Lynx — The  Domestic  Cat 
—The  Wolf— The  Coyote— The  Fox— The  Jack  Rabbit— The  Vary- 
ing Hare — The  Cottontail  Rabbit — The  Squirrel — The  Marten  and 
the  Black-Footed  Ferret — The  Otter — The  Mink — The  Ermine — The 
Beaver — The  Badger — The  Procupine  —  The  Skunk  —  Feathered 
Game — Upland  Birds — Waterfowl — Predatory  Birds.  This  book  is 
invaluable  to  the  novice  as  well  as  the  experienced  hunter. 

^'Tfi'is  book  studied  carefully,  avill  enable  the  reader  to 
become  as  ivell  ^versed  in  tracking  lore  as  he  could  by 
years  of  actual  experience." — Leiviston  Journal. 

10 


WING  AND  TRAP-SHOOTING,  Ly  Charles  Askins. 

The  only  practical  manual  in  existance  dealing  with  the  modern 
gun.  It  contains  a  full  discussion  of  the  various  methods,  such  as 
snap-shooting,  swing  and  half-swing,  discusses  the  flight  of  birds 
with  reference  to  the  gunner's  problem  ot  lead  and  range  and  makes 
special  application  of  the  various  points  to  the  diff"erent  birds  com- 
monly shot  in  this  country.  A  chapter  is  included  on  trap  shooting 
and  the  book  closes  with  a  forceful  and  common-sense  presentation 
of  the  etiquette  of  the  field. 

"It  is  difficult  to  understand  hovj  anyone  luho  takes  a  de- 
light in  hunting  can  afford  to  be  nuithout  this  ^valuable 
booky  —  Chamber  of  Commerce  Bulletin,  Portland,  Ore. 
''This  book  luill pro'Ve  an  invaluable  manual  to  the  true 
sportsman,  -ivhether  he  be  a  tyro  or  expert/^  —  "Book  Neivs 
Monthly. 

"Its  closing  chapter  on  field  etiquette  deserves  careful 
reading." — N.  Y.  Times. 

THE  YACHTSMAN'S  HANDBOOK,  by  Herbert  L. 

btone.  The  author  and  compiler  of  this  work  is  the  editor  of 
"Yachting".  He  treats  in  simple  language  of  the  many  problems 
confronting  the  amateur  sailor  and  motorboatman.  Handling 
ground  tackle,  handling  lines,  taking  soundings,  the  use  of  the  lead 
line,  care  and  use  of  sails,  yachting  etiquette,  are  all  given  careful 
attention.  Some  light  is  thrown  upon  the  operation  of  the  gasoline 
motor,  and  suggestions  are  made  for  the  avoidance  of  engine 
troubles. 


*IT  ••■^fitftf, 


11 


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